While more and more people were sacrificing sleep in order to watch the livestream back in China, the red carpet event of the Sommet International Film Festival started wrapping up. All of the VIP guests and attendees headed inside the grand theatre where the opening ceremony would be held in a few minutes.
Both Iris and Jin Liwei sat together with the cast and crew of “Strong Yet Broken”. Of course, except for the President of LX Productions who greeted the couple with much respect, the others were all extremely shocked upon learning that the two were engaged. They stared at the couple in complete astonishment. It was as if they were looking at a pair of mythical creatures that suddenly sprang to life and appeared in front of them, making them question whether they were dreaming or not.
“C-CEO Jin…is that really you?” the actor playing the adult Guan Jintao asked Jin Liwei in a hesitant manner.
“Of course,” Jin Liwei replied. His expression maintained its usual cold indifference.
The others were intimidated by him. It was only Guan Jintao and his wife who didn’t look starstruck at Jin Liwei. Perhaps it was because Guan Jintao already met many personages of Jin Liwei’s calibre from all around the world during his competitive swimming career back in the day and most especially after becoming a motivational speaker. He often encountered a lot of wealthy people whenever he participated in charity events. In fact, Guan Jintao personally met Jin Liwei for the first time at a charity event some years ago.
As for the others, even though they felt intimated by Jin Liwei, they still gathered their courage and started chatting with him. Iris’ presence made them a little more comfortable in initiating the conversation with him.
They soon discovered that despite his cold and indifferent expression, Jin Liwei was actually quite friendly. He was polite and didn’t make them feel inferior to him. What they didn’t know was that he was only like this because of Iris. Without their connection to his baby girl, he wouldn’t give them the time of day.
Before the stage, Maestro De Luca, his wife and Enrique Valdez were given front row seats alongside other notable laureates of the Sommet International Film Festival Awards in the past. These two music legends were often invited to the film festival. As a matter of fact, they even served as jury members in the past after winning their own awards.
In another part of the theatre, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao sat together with Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue. Wei Lan’s bodyguards who acted as her entourage tonight—all of them Jin Liwei’s subordinates—were allowed inside the theatre but sat on the side instead. This was another form of special treatment the organizers gave Vizcondesa Lan. Normally, the guests weren’t allowed to bring any bodyguards inside. However, they allowed Wei Lan and other members of the nobility. The organizers would also do the same for royalty and political leaders in higher office like presidents and prime ministers.
Finally, the opening ceremony began. It was mostly in French. The audience had the option to use the provided earphones and select a language of translation. Jin Liwei knew passable French, so he didn’t need to use the earphones. Of course, Iris didn’t need it at all. Whenever Jin Liwei didn’t understand something, he would only need to ask her about it and she would translate it for him.
The opening ceremony was, to be honest, boring. The hosts’ jokes fell flat because of the language differences with the audience. Only the awkward laughter of those who took pity on them saved them from total embarrassment. The musical performances were alright. Most of the performers played it too safe that they failed to shine and make their performances memorable.
Maestro Ludovico De Luca leaned towards Enrique Valdez who was sitting beside him and whispered, “This is too painful to watch. The quality of musical performances has been declining with each passing year. If Xiulan wasn’t a participant, I wouldn’t even bother accepting the invitation to attend this year’s film festival.” Then he sighed. “We should’ve recommended Xiulan to perform tonight instead. She would definitely perform with all her heart and amaze everyone. Not like these people who are too afraid to make mistakes.”
Enrique Valdez nodded. He didn’t say anything but it was obvious by his bored expression that he agreed with Maestro De Luca. For a moment, he was actually tempted to drag Iris from her seat and take her to the stage, so that they could have a “proper” musical performance together.
‘This is not the right time to perform together. Not yet,’ he thought to himself.
After that, he tuned out the opening ceremony and mentally wrote songs inside his head instead. Maestro De Luca also did the same. Unbeknownst to the people around them, the two music geniuses were already absorbed in their own little worlds inside their minds.
Several rows behind them, Iris would’ve also done the same thing as her two mentors if she was by herself. Fortunately, her darling was with her. Boredom was the last thing in her mind whenever they were together. They quietly talked to each other in whispers. Basically, they spent almost the entire opening ceremony acting lovey-dovey. The “Strong Yet Broken” cast and crew snickered at the two of them.
“How are you feeling, darling?” Iris asked Jin Liwei. “Are you sleepy? You must be exhausted.”
Jin Liwei landed in France with his subordinates at dawn that day. It was only Grandpa Lu who was already up and about when he arrived at the villa. However, Jin Liwei only spent a few minutes talking with Grandpa Lu before quickly heading to the master bedroom. It had only been a couple of days but he already missed his baby girl so much. He couldn’t wait to see, embrace and kiss her again.
Iris was awakened when Jin Liwei arrived in the bedroom. Perhaps it was their connection as lovers that stirred her from her usual deep sleep. She welcomed him from the bed with open arms. Then they made love lazily. Afterwards, they slept together for a couple of hours.
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Back to the present, Jin Liwei replied to her, saying, “Not at all. On the contrary, I feel very energetic.”
“Really?”
“En.”
She tilted her head to the side. “How come you’re feeling energetic? You barely rested.”
One corner of his mouth curved upward into a smile.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m finally able to openly show my love for you to the entire world, so of course I’m filled with energy. I’m so excited that I can barely sit still. This is one of the happiest days of my life. And it’s with you again.”
