Even though the trio arrived just in time and wasn’t technically late, they didn’t make a good impression on the coaching team and the athletes’ families and friends at all. These people didn’t care much about knowing the lives of high society members whose statuses were out of their reach anyway. All they felt was annoyance at the trio who didn’t have the courtesy to arrive ahead of time and delayed the start of the gala dedicated to the athletes.
At the front-row tables, Iris sighed while Jin Liwei frowned. If this was their own party, they wouldn’t care if Wei Lan was late or not. But they weren’t the hosts this time.
Others knew that Wei Lan was Iris Long’s mother and Jin Liwei’s mother-in-law. No matter what Wei Lan did, it would always reflect on both Iris and Jin Liwei one way or another.
To be honest, Iris didn’t care much. She was just annoyed. Jin Liwei, on the other hand, was more irked. He didn’t like anything that would affect his wife’s reputation in a negative manner even if it was his own mother-in-law. He sent Dom a meaningful glance.
Dom understood. He understood and ran to the meet Wei Lan’s group to show them to their seats.
Lin Yehan cleared his throat and gestured for the emcee to start the scheduled programme.
At last, the gala finally began.
The guests shifted their attention (and annoyance) from Wei Lan and focused on the event.
”Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the incredible, inspirational and phenomenal—our country’s pride, the national shooting team!”
Everyone stood up and rained applause on the athletes as they finally entered the gala hall. The age range of the athletes was quite diverse. The youngest was only sixteen years-old while the oldest was already in his fifties.
The sixteen year-old was by no means the youngest and neither was the fifty year-old the oldest shooting active professional athletes in the world but their ages still awed their countrymen.
The teenager was still so young and yet he already brought glory to his own country. Similarly, the middle-aged athlete was already at that age and yet he still continued to sharpen his skills without losing motivation.
”They’re so amazing,” Iris commented while joining everyone in clapping for the athletes.
Lin Yehan heard her. “If you had only agreed to my offer to train you back then, you would have been in the national shooting team as well. Maybe we would’ve gotten gold instead. Winning in the Olympics is not impossible either.”
She only smiled but didn’t agree or disagree.
Jin Liwei, however, nodded. He agreed with what his eldest brother said. He knew how skillful his wife’s shooting was and how accurate she could shoot. Even when she was just throwing things, her accuracy was no joke.
Then he glanced at his brother-in-law. Lu Zihao only clapped three times before stopping. He didn’t look interested in the gala at all.
Jin Liwei knew that the best shooter in this place wasn’t the athletes or even his wife but his brother-in-law instead. Unlike his wife, his brother-in-law had been able to apply his shooting skills in numerous real life and death situations.
If Lu Zihao became a shooting athlete, he would probably become a legend that no one had ever witnessed before in the history of the sports. He would most likely decimate all of his opponents, leaving them no room to even catch up to him.
Lu Zihao noticed someone’s gaze on him. His eyes met Jin Liwei’s. He raised an eyebrow. Jin Liwei didn’t avoid him. They looked at each other for a few seconds before looking away almost at the same time.
”What’s wrong?” Iris asked after noticing the two men’s interaction.
Jin Liwei shook his head.
She had no time to ask him anymore because the speeches finally started.
As the host, Lin Yehan went on the small stage and officially welcomed everyone.
He was one of the minor coaches of the team. A few years ago, he had been the main coach after his retirement as an athlete but decided later on to step down and focus on running his agricultural business. It was only because his colleagues, students and even the committee begged him not to leave that he stayed as a minor coach.
Although the credit was obviously lesser, it still worked for him. He could continue being active in his passion in sports shooting and groom the next generation of athletes while also running his business at the same time. The most important thing was that he was happy.
Next, the main coach—a former teammate of Lin Yehan and later became a colleague after their retirement as athletes—also made a speech.
Then finally, the athletes themselves.
The cheers and applause almost never stopped especially when video clips of the team’s highlights in the world championships were played.
”Not bad,” Iris commented. “The teenager is indeed quite talented but still lacks a little control and experience.”
Jin Liwei studied her expression. “If given a choice again, would you have wanted to be an athlete like them?”
She shook her head without hesitation. “As much as I admire athletes, I have no passion in the sports. You know what I’m passionate about. I won’t give up music and computers for this.”
”I know.” He raised her hand and kissed it, not at all concerned about the onlookers.
Fortunately, most of the guests’ attention was on the stage. However, there were still some who witnessed the husband and wife’s public display of affection. The reporters especially didn’t miss the opportunity to take videos and several snapshots of the couple’s intimacy.
The gala didn’t only involve these speeches and food and drinks. Lin Yehan also arranged for a number of performances to entertain everyone.
All the members of the Pandemonium band stood up and performed their most popular songs. Since most of the guests weren’t the type to like rock music, the band decided to rearrange their songs to become less hardcore. This was their limit. They refused to completely discard their rock essence in order to please their audience.
As the band’s bosses, Iris and Jin Chonglin also wouldn’t allow them to completely eliminate the rock aspect of their music. Pandemonium was a rock band. Period. If they took this away, then they would not be Pandemonium anymore.
Exploring other genres and melding them into their rock core was more than welcomed like how Iris Long taught them, but they would never abandon their true origins as musicians. Doing so would only destroy the heart of their artistry.
As expected, not everyone enjoyed their performance, especially those who were past a certain age and most of the members of high society. Pandemonium didn’t care, neither did Iris nor Jin Chonglin.
They were all musical artists. There were some things that they would never sacrifice for wider acceptance and that included their artistic principles in their musical craft.
Besides, it had always been impossible to please everybody anyway.
Pandemonium felt better when they saw that most of the national shooting team athletes were digging their performance—the younger ones anyway. The oldest one in his fifties was like the others who couldn’t relate but his younger teammates were enjoying themselves.
After the music stopped, the athletes all stood up and cheered. The oldest athlete and many of the guests who had been unable to relate to the performance could only give the rock band some polite applause.
Blaze, the main vocalist, spoke, “That’s our final song. Thank you so much! And HUGE congratulations to the national shooting team. You guys are awesome!”
”That’s the end?”
”More!”
”One more song!”
Those who enjoyed the performance begged for more, including some of the athletes.
The band members asked the emcee if that was okay. The emcee then went to Lin Yehan who gave a thumbs up.
Blaze grinned. Then his gaze landed on Iris.
”We can do one more song. There is a song that we really want to perform again with the original person who wrote it. We’re not sure if she’ll agree but we’ll try our luck anyway.”
Iris raised an eyebrow. Surely, they wouldn’t do what she suspected, right?
”Boss Iris! Please join us on the stage! I know that it’s abrupt but we’re really excited to perform together with you again! Please!”
Blaze and his band members all gave her a bow, begging her to agree.
Tang Yiyi’s expression turned dark. She looked like she was about to march onstage and twist the ears of the naughty boys.
”Relax, Manager Tang,” Jin Chonglin told her. “I see no problem with the boys’ request.”
”No problem?!” Tang Yiyi was aghast at his nonchalance. “Iris didn’t rehearse with them at all!”
Lin Dong sighed. “Chonglin, just stop talking, alright?”
”You controlling bastard,” Jin Chonglin grumbled under his breath but still obeyed his manager and stopped talking.
Chen Fei snorted at him.
”I’ll deal with you later, you rude, bossy woman,” he muttered.
She snorted again, not at all worried about his threat. What could he possibly do to her? She didn’t fear him at all.
Back at Iris’ table, she chuckled at Pandemonium’s surprise invitation. Everyone was waiting for her decision.
”Boss Iris, please accept!” someone shouted.
It was one of the athletes. Others followed suit in trying to persuade her to accept, including the sixteen year-old athlete. In fact, the teenage athlete pulled out a slipper from out of nowhere and waved it a little before hiding it again, afraid that their coach would scold him.
Iris saw this and laughed. Then she stood up amidst the cheers and applause.
