He said, “Sorry, boss! I tried delaying Big Sis Yiyi as much as I could but she became super-duper angry when she discovered the livestream of your interview online.”
She gave him an “it’s fine” wave of her hand.
”Iris, are you listening to me?” Tang Yiyi demanded.
”Elder Sis Yiyi, I don’t regret what I said,” Iris told her.
”Of course, you don’t,” her manager grumbled. “You never do.”
”Manager Tang, I support everything that my wife said to the reporters,” Jin Liwei interjected.
This time, Tang Yiyi grumbled in her heart, not daring to say it to CEO Jin’s face. ‘Of course, you are. You always are.’
Despite this, she still continued lecturing Iris. Jin Liwei wanted to interrupt but Iris stopped him with a look.
The lecture didn’t last too long, only a couple of minutes or so.
When she was done, Tang Yiyi sighed. “Why do I even bother lecturing you? You’re always like this, saying whatever you want.”
Iris felt amused at her manager. She wasn’t upset at all at being lectured.
”You’ve been managing me for this long. You should be used to my temperament a long time ago.”
Tang Yiyi glared at her again. “It’s because that I’ve been managing you for this long that I feel frustrated that you refuse to be a little, just a tiniest bit tactful, you know?”
”I’m already being tactful at this point,” Iris countered. “If I wasn’t, I would have said much worse things about that cheating couple.”
”You!” Tang Yiyi sighed again, shaking her head.
Iris shrugged, not at all sorry about the things she said in front of the reporters. Was it wrong to call out the cheating couple?
It was the truth, anyway. It wasn’t like she was pulling lies out of nowhere. Everything she said about Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue was the truth and nothing but the truth.
Tang Yiyi didn’t know how many times she had sighed and shook her head as she looked at the biggest artist that she was personally managing. Her goal was to make Iris Long into a superstar, even bigger than Jin Chonglin.
They could only achieve this goal if Iris made another successful showbiz comeback and produced new hits after another. Now that she was married and a mother, the majority of the usual opportunities to advance her career had been greatly reduced.
This was normal because showbiz was one of the most fickle industries in society. Showbiz demanded younger and fresher talents who were preferably single and childless.
As a result, Tang Yiyi felt a little desperate to do everything involving Iris’ career as perfect as possible. She hoped that Iris would learn a bit more tact when speaking to the media. Unfortunately, her hopes always ended up being dashed.
Iris remained as straightforward as ever and refused to compromise no matter what.
On one hand, Tang Yiyi admired Iris for her straightforward personality. It was because Iris was this straightforward that her fans always felt assured of everything she said. When she said something, she really meant it. This gave her something extremely important and rare especially in showbiz.
Credibility.
Too many celebrities lacked credibility. They were too easy to buckle under pressure. They would say one thing, and whenever they got into trouble because of it, they would take it back to protect their reputations.
Iris Long right now didn’t have this kind of issue. Despite her turbulent showbiz career during her teenage years, she managed to successfully rebuild her image into something not only respectable but also brilliant.
And on the other hand, Tang Yiyi felt exasperated at Iris’ straightforward personality. This kind of artist who didn’t fear offending anyone by her words was too stressful to manage.
”Iris, I swear you’ll give me a heart attack someday,” Tang Yiyi complained but her tone had already softened.
”I don’t think that I’m that unruly,” Iris replied with a raised eyebrow. “Compared to Brother Chonglin, I think that I’m quite easy to manage.”
Tang Yiyi was about to retort but then remembered her colleague. Lin Dong already began balding a little because Jin Chonglin often caused him too much stress.
Indeed, compared to Jin Chonglin, Iris was rather easy to manage. Jin Chonglin had excellent work ethics but his innate rebellious nature often caused his manager a lot of headaches.
The good thing was that Jin Chonglin seemed to have grown more sensible when it came to women. He had been a notorious womanizer before. Perhaps his nightmarish experience with his ex-fiancée traumatized him out of his womanizing tendencies.
Instead of dating and sleeping around, he now had become more focused in his career, and of course, in running LXC Studio. Lin Dong didn’t have to clean up after Jin Chonglin’s messy dating life anymore.
”Hey, are you talking crap about me?” Jin Chonglin appeared and asked after hearing his name.
It had been difficult to extricate himself from the group of reporters and the other guests who became overexcited at his arrival. Fortunately, Lin Yehan arranged for excellent security at this gala. Peace and order were quickly restored and he was finally able to enter the hall.
”Not crap, just facts,” Iris replied.
”En.” Jin Liwei nodded.
Tang Yiyi’s mouth twitched. Well, she did agree, though.
Jin Chonglin snorted. He was about to say something when a familiar figure entered the corner of his sight.
Chen Fei had also just entered the hall. She was with Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao. Following them was a yawning Meimei who looked like she was about to sleep while walking. Dom fetched them and showed them their tables.
”The gala is about to start,” Lin Dong said, looking at his watch. “Let’s head to our tables, too. It’s not good for us to steal the attention from the national shooting team when they arrive later. We’ll be criticized if we do.”
Everyone agreed.
Then Grandpa Lu arrived with Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan. Grandpa Lu sat at the same table as Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing. Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan sat with Iris and Jin Liwei.
Wang Yingjie managed to come as well. Seated beside him was Yu Mo.
On the other side, Jin Chonglin maintained a pleasant expression. His words, though, were filled with dissatisfaction.
”Why am I seated beside you?” he asked the person next to him.
”That’s what I want to ask, too,” Chen Fei replied. Like him, she showed a smiling expression to avoid the onlookers from overthinking. “You think I like to sit beside someone like you?”
”What do you mean someone like me? You mean a tall, rich, handsome and ultra-talented superstar?”
”No, I mean a damned narcissistic diva man.”
”You little—”
”Ssssh!” Lin Dong was quick to reprimand them. “Chonglin, stop it. You too, Miss Chen. This isn’t the right time or place to quarrel. Do you want gossip of the two of you dating to appear in the headlines tomorrow?”
Chen Fei looked appalled. “Eeew! No way!”
Jin Chonglin was insulted by her reaction. “Excuse me but did you just say eeew? How dare you?!”
”Stop it!” Lin Dong scolded them.
At the table behind, the Pandemonium members heard them. They snickered among themselves. Jin Chonglin was one of their bosses alongside Iris and Jin Liwei so they came today to represent LXC Studio. Even so, they still quietly made fun of Jin Chonglin.
He was a superstar and yet he was still being disdained. Orchidia’s COO Chen Fei was amazing!
Back at Jin Chonglin’s side, Yu Mo also heard them. He leaned over from his table.
”I heard that Eldest Bro had to make last minute seat rearrangements because Madam Wei Lan and René Alejandro asked to be invited a couple of days ago. You were supposed to be in the same table as Third Bro and Xiao Xiu but you were moved there instead to make space for Madam Wei and René Alejandro.”
”Dammit,” Jin Chonglin swore while flashing his iconic killer smile.
He couldn’t show a negative expression or it would most likely end up in tomorrow’s headlines with crazy speculations.
Chen Fei wasn’t pleased either. She wanted to sit beside her best friend, Long Jinjing. How did she end up sitting beside this annoying diva man instead?
Unbeknownst to her, she was really supposed to sit beside Long Jinjing. However, a mischievous Cupid managed to switch her seat beside Jin Chonglin instead just before she arrived.
Dom ehehe-d in excitement as he watched Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei bickering with each other while maintaining their smiles. He was proud of his machinations. He wanted to gossip about it to others but Meimei was already starting to nod off in her seat.
He could only wait for Randy to arrive. Speaking of the Zumba instructor, how come he hadn’t arrived yet?
It must be because Wei Lan insisted on being late again, believing that the most important people always arrived late.
Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue finally entered the hall. The host and his partner’s appearance signified that the gala was about to start any second now.
The two of them sat in the same table as Iris and Jin Liwei. Originally, Lin Yehan and his partner were supposed to sit with the coaching team. However, he decided to change it to make Jiang Ying Yue more comfortable.
He was the gala’s host anyway. He didn’t want to make the seating arrangements too formal. It was more important to make everyone as comfortable as possible especially his own girlfriend.
Lin Yehan was about to gesture at the emcee to officially start the gala when the hall’s large double doors opened and in strutted Wei Lan like a model on a catwalk flanked by a handsome Spaniard and a flamboyant muscle-man.
