Iris was like the light attracting the “damn bugs” all over her. Of course, the delegates were the damn bugs in Jin Liwei’s mind. He wanted to march towards them and swat all the pests into oblivion. The green-eyed monster within him almost overcame his emotions.
However, he saw that despite the people surrounding her, his baby girl was keeping her distance from them. She wasn’t allowing any of them to become too touch-feely with her.
Their eyes met and she smiled, silently reassuring him.
He briefly closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down. The green-eyed monster within him was still there, but he was starting to learn how to not let it overwhelm him to the point that he lost control of himself.
Grandpa Lu thumped his back hard three times again. It made Jin Liwei feel like vomiting his internal organs once again. Good thing that he was quite sturdy and could take the force. Perhaps that was why Grandpa Lu hit him harder than necessary.
“Very good, my boy! That’s the way to go! Too much jealousy is not good! It’ll poison the love in the long run!” Grandpa Lu told him in a not so booming voice.
The people in their Jin Corporation group looked at the two of them in confusion.
‘What is Sir Lu talking about?’ they inwardly wondered.
It was only Xu Tian who knew exactly what Grandpa Lu was talking about. As for the others, they thought that perhaps the old man was exhibiting his eccentricities once again. He was a genius, after all. Geniuses were a weird bunch. Normal people like them couldn’t hope to understand how their minds worked.
In another part of the conference hall, the Long Industries group looked at Iris surrounded by delegates asking for her autograph and photo. Now that she had proven herself to be a skilled interpreter and also a student of Madame Schwarz and Hisakawa-sensei, those who were prejudiced against her suddenly changed their minds.
And of course it was a given that Long Tengfei felt the most proud among them. His daughter’s accomplishments felt like his own accomplishments as well.
Long Hui also already accepted that his sister was a genius. He was also the one among the Longs who met with her regularly because they were connected by Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue. He was already past the point of feeling shocked by her abilities all the time.
It was only Long Jian who felt bitter about Iris’ excellent performance in this international business conference. Seeing all the delegates, both Chinese and French, acting like her braindead fans, he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Excuse me, Father—I mean President. I need to go to the men’s room,” he told his father in a low voice.
Long Tengfei only nodded and waved him off, not really sparing him a glance. He was too busy talking to the COO and the others.
Already feeling negative to begin with, of course Long Jian would take issue at Long Tengfei’s dismissive attitude. Long Jian’s belief that he was Long Tengfei’s least liked child among the siblings was reinforced.
He left the conference hall with a dark expression. Instead of going to the men’s room, he went outside instead to smoke a cigarette.
Back inside the conference hall, Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa finally intervened and sternly drove away the delegates surrounding Iris. They escorted her away back to the private room they stayed at earlier.
A few minutes later, Long Tengfei, Long Hui and Cao Guang followed them. It took longer but Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu and Xu Tian also arrived at the private room.
Only Grandpa Lu could understand what they were talking about. Jin Liwei could also understand a little bit.
“They’re going over Xiulan’s interpretations earlier, especially the parts where she could’ve done better,” Grandpa Lu explained to Long Tengfei and the others. “Kalisha is currently advising her on more accurate translations that she could’ve made.”
“I see.” Long Tengfei nodded. “And here I thought that she did a perfect job earlier.”
“She did a great job, yes! That’s our girl! Bahahahaha!” Grandpa Lu’s booming voice was back. “But her performance earlier wasn’t perfect. Besides, your daughter is a Cross Academy student! There is a high standard that she must uphold, that’s why Kalisha and Akio are being very strict on her!”
Everyone nodded. Then they began chatting while waiting for Iris and Professor Schwarz to finish reviewing her performance.
Grandpa Lu was being noisy again, so he got a polite request to lower his volume from Professor Schwarz. Professor Hisakawa only sighed and smiled helplessly.
“Bah! That’s because you’re taking too long, Kalisha! You should hurry and finish up! How long are you planning on lecturing Xiulan? I want to know! We’re all done for today! Let’s go out and eat dinner! This old man is getting hungry! I want some seafood!”
It was Iris who replied to him. “Grandpa Lu, please wait for a bit more. I also want to hear Professor Schwarz’s opinions about my interpretations today. Even I wasn’t satisfied by my own performance. I want to improve more and do better next time.”
Ever the doting grandfather, Grandpa Lu immediately changed his tune. “Of course, my girl! Take your time! I’ll just ‘quietly’ chat with your father here!” he replied in his booming voice.
“Darling, wait for me, okay?” Iris told Jin Liwei next.
“En.” Jin Liwei nodded. He also had a doting expression on his face.
“Father…”
“Don’t mind us. Continue,” Long Tengfei replied before she could finish her sentence. As the father, of course he also had a doting expression on his face just like Grandpa Lu and Jin Liwei.
The mouths of Long Hui, Xu Tian and Cao Guang all twitched while watching them. This just proved that Iris had these men wrapped around her little finger.
Finally, Iris and Professor Schwarz were done reviewing. Everyone got ready to leave.
Iris headed straight to Jin Liwei and wrapped her arms around his waist. She inhaled his scent and immediately felt comforted. Of course, Jin Liwei hugged her back and kissed the top of her head.
“Tired?” he asked her.
She nodded but then said, “But I like it.”
She smiled. “Thank you. But I want to do better tomorrow.”
“Just do your best and you’ll be fine,” he said, stroking her cheek.
“You’re also working tomorrow? For which conference?” Long Hui asked her.
“The China-Malaysia conference in the morning and then the China-Japan after lunch,” she replied. “It’ll be all-Asian for me tomorrow, so Professor Hisakawa will be the one supervising me.”
Professor Hisakawa nodded.
“Malaysia? Japan? Will you be working on two conferences per day starting tomorrow?” Long Tengfei asked this time.
“Yes, Father.”
“And it’ll be in different languages each time. Am I right? I want to know! Wait, I already know! Bahahaha!” Grandpa Lu’s laughter boomed throughout the room. “We’re already done, right? Can we eat now? This old man wants to eat some lobsters! Let’s go!”
Everyone couldn’t help but laugh with Grandpa Lu. His high energy was infectious. Iris didn’t feel so tired anymore.
