“Big Bro, am I still your brother?” Jin Chonglin couldn’t help but whine. Then he threw a resentful look at Iris.
“Don’t be such a drama queen!” Iris snapped at him, extremely annoyed. “You just need to sing the song with me. It’s my song. Why are you suddenly wanting to change everything?” Then she turned to Jin Liwei. “Darling, which is better? My current song or the version he wants the song to turn into?”
“Of course yours is better, love,” Jin Liwei immediately replied. He looked at his brother coldly. “Xiulan’s song is already perfect as it is. Don’t go around changing it just because you want to. Besides, I’m the inspiration behind it. So it’s basically my song as well. I don’t want you changing my song.”
Jin Chonglin looked at the couple in exasperation. The bullies! They were clearly ganging up on him.
He took a few deep breaths to calm down and prevent himself from losing his temper. Then he explained to them, “I’ve been in the music industry longer than Sister Xiulan. I think that my suggestions are worth considering. Yeah, this song is great and all but it’s not perfect. It’s too sweet and sappy! With this kind of lyrics and melody combined together, I think it’s too much! Do you want the listeners to die from dog food overdose? We should at least change up the melody a little to make it more modern and appealing to the younger generation.”
“It’s a love song! It’s supposed to be sweet and sappy! And what’s wrong with dog food? We’re singing it for a romance TV drama! Its main selling point is to drown its viewers with dog food! Dom and Meimei say that people love this kind of stories!” Iris retorted. She turned to Jin Liwei again. “Am I right, darling?”
“Of course you’re right, love.”
Jin Chonglin threw his hands up in the air in surrender. Now he was starting to understand why Iris Long was one of the very rare handful of people in the music industry who wasn’t the least bit intimidated by the notorious hothead producer JJ. She was extremely stubborn and liked getting what she wanted just like JJ. The only difference between them was that Iris wasn’t in the habit of exploding into extreme rages unlike JJ.
Seeing his younger brother’s discontent about the situation, Jin Liwei’s heart softened a bit. Jin Chonglin would always be his flesh and blood brother no matter what happened. But he could also understand his baby girl’s protectiveness towards her song. Jin Chonglin basically wanted to change the entire melody, only keeping the lyrics.
“Why don’t you write another duet instead of trying to change Xiulan’s song? Is there a rule that says there should only be one duet for you to sing together?” Jin Liwei suggested to his brother.
Both Iris and Jin Chonglin’s eyes lit up at his suggestion.
Jin Chonglin nodded, immediately diving into deep thought. He grabbed a piece of blank paper and a pen from a nearby table and started jotting down some of his ideas.
Iris went to Jin Liwei and sat beside him, hugging his arm. “Darling, that’s such a great idea! We’ll keep my song as it is, while Brother Chonglin will write another song that’ll suit his tastes better. Then we can have two songs to sing together.”
“Yes. Let’s do that instead,” Jin Chonglin agreed. “We’ll go ahead and release your song as the theme song for the TV drama. Then we can release my song as a stand-alone single afterwards.”
With that, everything had been decided between them. Jin Chonglin jotted down a few more ideas before putting the paper aside.
Then Iris and Jin Chonglin resumed working on her song. Although Iris rejected any major changes to the song, she allowed Jin Chonglin’s other minor tweaks as long as she thought that they improved the song.
She didn’t want any major changes in the song at this point because JJ would surely fight with her again when they begin recording the song. The music producer would definitely try to make some sweeping alterations once again.
JJ was harder to deal with than Jin Chonglin because he wasn’t afraid of anyone, including Jin Liwei. Just thinking about her upcoming arguments with JJ was already making Iris’ head hurt.
Since Iris limited Jin Chonglin’s power to make changes in the song, Jin Chonglin also made her promise not to make any major changes to the song he would write. Iris agreed. It was only fair.
As for Jin Liwei, he finally realized what he had done. He was already regretting making the suggestion in the first place. Another duet meant that the two would have to work together longer and more closely with each other. He trusted both of them but still couldn’t stop the green-eyed monster inside him from rearing its ugly head.
All he could do was scowl as he watched his baby girl and brother sing a love song together. He had no idea if his brother would also write a love song. The song wasn’t even written yet but he felt like he already hated it.
‘Calm down, Liwei,’ he told himself. ‘He’s your brother.’
Jin Liwei could only sigh at his unkind thoughts. But at least he noticed that he wasn’t that jealous of his brother anymore regarding his baby girl compared to before when they just started their relationship. It was because he felt more secure in his position in her heart now.
The thought made him smile.
###
With her winning streak in the awards show and the recent revelation of her close connection with the legendary business genius Sir Lu Jianhong, people in high society continued to talk about Iris Long as their hottest topic of discussion.
Her reputation in these circles weren’t that good. There were two big reasons for this.
The first one was because of Iris’ mother, Wei Lan, who these people scorned as a gold digging and social climbing slut. They loved to mock her. Some even hated her because of suspicions that she had affairs with their husbands. However, nothing was ever proven from these suspicions.
In short, Iris Long was nobody but a problem child to these people.
Although many of them were amazed at her drastic change for the better, some of the old-fashioned ones still thought of her as nothing but a showgirl. These people were similar to the Long elders. They looked down on people working in the showbiz industry. They even looked down on Jin Chonglin.
Nevertheless, Iris Long’s status and reputation within these circles improved recently when it was reported that she was engaged to Lu Zihao. If she married him, then she would become a Lu. The Lus were many levels higher than any of them on the social hierarchy.
Of course, this generated a lot of envy and hate from them.
“What’s so special about her? She’ll just become a trophy wife in the end. The Lus gain nothing from her. What can she contribute to the Lu family? She has nothing but her beauty and her ability to sing. That’s it.”
This kind of opinions were widely spread in these circles. Many of them just couldn’t accept the possibility of Iris ascending several levels above them on the social hierarchy. Why couldn’t it be them instead?
Even most of the Longs, especially the elders, only saw her worth as the bridge which would connect their family to the Lus. They still didn’t think highly of her own abilities and accomplishments. However, they must act nicely to her on the surface for the sake of leaving a good impression to the Lus.
As for Iris herself, she wasn’t directly aware about any of these, nor did she care. So what if they were looking down at her? To her, these people were nobodies and strangers. What they thought about her was none of her business. They could look down on her however much they wanted.
It was a different matter to Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu. They were clearly aware of all of these talks about her. Both of them were enraged for her sake. However, they didn’t do anything to shut them up.
“I wish I could record the reactions of all those snobs who keep on looking down on Xiulan my girl! That would be so funny! Bahahaha! They dare look down on Lu Jianhong’s beloved granddaughter and student? Hah!” Grandpa Lu (who felt very bored) told Jin Liwei after disturbing him at work.
