On their way to their seats, Iris and Jin Liwei stopped to receive the congratulations from Wei Lan, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao.
Wei Lan was now openly crying, casting aside her image as a graceful and classy viscountess. But it still didn’t detract from her beauty which she passed down to her one and only daughter, Long Xiulan. Her new friends didn’t mind that she was freely expressing her emotions, unlike a composed a viscountess. In fact, they thought more highly of her now because she was acting like such a proud mother. It made her more relatable.
Iris was touched by Wei Lan’s emotional congratulations. The woman hugged her tightly. This was the first time that they had a real hug, not just the superficial ones they usually had before.
Even from the memories of the original Iris Long, Wei Lan had perhaps only given her daughter this kind of heartfelt hug maybe once or twice, and that was when the original Iris was just a small child. The memories were hazy that it was difficult for the Iris now to ascertain whether they really happened or not, especially since she wasn’t actually the one who experienced them.
Nevertheless, Iris returned the hug and patted Wei Lan’s back. She could feel the woman’s sincerity in making up to her as a mother. Although she wasn’t the real Iris, she still couldn’t help but feel warm inside.
A mother figure was someone that she lacked in her past life as Evelina. Yet she had a few of them now. Yi Mei, Yang Jiahui, Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li. They treated her like their own daughter or granddaughter, so she was very thankful to them.
As for Wei Lan, Iris had only treated the woman as an acquaintance or a distant friend who called or messaged her at random times. But ever since Wei Lan returned to the country and moved into her penthouse, they grew closer. This was especially true after Iris witnessed Wei Lan taking Jiang Ying Yue under her wings and helped her gain more self-confidence. Jiang Ying Yue was one of her best friends, so Iris began treating Wei Lan more favourably afterwards.
Despite this, Iris still felt some sort of instinctive emotional distance towards Wei Lan. She couldn’t fully explain it. She had no idea if the feeling originated from the remnant inside her body or from her.
(She still didn’t know that the remnant had now almost completely fused with her, so technically there wasn’t any active remnant inside her anymore.)
Although Iris was feeling this way, she didn’t want to push Wei Lan away. As long as the woman was treating her with sincerity, Iris had no problem in accepting her goodwill. Perhaps she might even begin to treat Wei Lan like a real mother, despite the woman’s shortcomings to the original Iris. After all, Iris believed that people could change.
After hugging Wei Lan, Iris hugged Grandpa Lu next. The old man’s proud voice boomed, but it was still drowned by the even louder applause and cheers of the other people around them. Iris actually treated Grandpa Lu as the best father figure in this new life of hers, even more so than Long Tengfei. Grandpa Lu was very loving, nurturing, and yet still allowed her to spread her own wings, to explore the world on her own, and to learn from her own mistakes. He was also very open in expressing his affections to the people he cared about. Iris admired him greatly.
Finally, she received congratulations from her big brother. Lu Zihao enveloped her in his warm and strong embrace.
“I’m so proud of you,” he whispered to her ear in Russian. “You’ve blossomed into an amazing, brilliant, incredible and confident woman. I wish you a lifetime filled withhappiness.”
Her face broke into a bright, emotional smile. Coming from her real big brother’s mouth, these words were extra special to her.
“Thank you, Big Brother,” she whispered back in Russian as well. “I also wish you a lifetime filled with happiness. Let’s spend these new lives of ours pursuing only happiness and the freedom to chase our dreams.”
His eyes dimmed a bit after hearing what she said, but his expression quickly recovered. Iris didn’t notice the change at all. This was her big brother, after all. He was an expert in concealing his emotions if he really wanted to, even to the people close to him.
Jin Liwei also joined in hugging everyone. He felt like the proudest husband ever. His wife was just too awesome!
Afterwards, the couple finally returned to their seats where they were welcomed by the cast and crew of “Strong Yet Broken”, including the President of LX Productions and Guan Jintao and his wife. They looked absolutely ecstatic about her win, as if they had won it for themselves. And in a sense, they also won it because they were all part of the same film. They were one team.
Iris wasn’t stingy. She handed them the beautiful trophy in its open velvet box, so that they could examine it for themselves. The producer was crying tears of joy, while the director was teary-eyed.
Iris tilted her head to the side before replying, “We still have two more nominations remaining.”
The hidden implication of her words was clear to everyone.
‘We still have two more nominations remaining. There’s still a chance that we can win more.’
The others chuckled, agreeing with her out loud. Inside, however, they didn’t believe that they would continue to be lucky tonight.Now that their film had won an award through Iris Long, they already felt satisfied.
