By now, the Chinese reporter who originally livestreamed the opening night of the Sommet International Film Festival had increased his reputation. His boss had placed more importance on him and gave him more funds to do his job more efficiently in this France assignment.
The other Chinese reporters tried following his example and began livestreaming during the film festival as well. However, the pioneer already acquired the advantage in everything. The viewers seemed to flock to the original Chinese reporter who livestreamed first.
His good reputation was evident in the view counts. At the moment, he was livestreaming the post-ceremony press conference. His livestream currently had a total of more than 3 million viewers, compared to the other Chinese reporters’ livestreams that only had a few thousand views each. The additional funds he received were invested in better equipment, making the quality of his livestream more superior than the others. This was one of the reasons why the viewers preferred to watch his livestreams.
He was currently focusing the video camera on Iris Long and Yin Meixing standing together with the other award winners. All of them held their beautiful golden sun on a crystal trophies inside open velvet boxes while smiling to the cameras.
The names of all of these award winners, including Iris Long and Yin Meixing, would forever be recorded in the history of the Sommet International Film Festival. From now on, they would be referred to as laureates of the film festival, alongside figures like Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez.
Back in China, more people started tuning in to the livestream. It was already hours past midnight, yet the view count only kept increasing by the minute. There was now close to 3.5 million viewers.
The original viewers since day one were watching the livestream again. Most of them were Black Stars. There were also members of high society, curious rumourmongers, Iris Long and Wei Lan’s haters, Jin Liwei’s own fans and those who were lusting for him, and the new WeiRis shippers.
It wasn’t only these people who were watching the livestream. The fans of the rising stars Yin Meixing and the other actors and actresses starring in “Strong Yet Broken” were also watching to support their new favourite celebrities. Guan Jintao’s own fans also made sure to tune in. In addition, people working in entertainment news were required to watch the livestream as part of their work. And finally, the rest of the viewers were made up of people who genuinely wanted to support their fellow countrymen and countrywomen in giving pride and honour to their country.
Nevertheless, it was still the Black Stars who were the most active in the live comments.
CaptainBlackStar: “We did it, comrades! Our amazing Boss Iris won the Best Soundtrack Award! She even mentioned us, the Black Stars, in her acceptance speech! This is a great honour to all of us. We must show boss how happy, grateful, and proud we are of her when she returns home!”
The Black Stars’ leader rallied her fellow fan club members to send messages of support to their beloved Boss Iris. A good portion of them were former LinRis shippers who temporarily became ZiRis shippers until they eventually settled down to become the WeiRis shippers.
“OMG! Did you watch the video footage of Boss Iris’ acceptance speech on the internet? She brought CEO Jin with her on the stage and she said ‘I love you’! And then he mouthed ‘I love you, too’ back! Kyaaaaaah! I’m dying! Help! I’m drowning in too much dogfood!”
“Yes! I watched it! I thought that CEO Jin will be too cold and unemotional for Boss Iris, but I’m wrong! Despite his resting bitch face, CEO Jin’s love for boss is very obvious from the look in his eyes.”
“I agree! The way that CEO Jin looks at Boss Iris is so sweet and sticky! I’m getting diabetes just watching them!”
“WeiRis is so much better than LinRis or even ZiRis! I’m sorry Prince Lin Lin, but I think that your older brother matches Boss Iris better than you. Am I the only one who thinks that CEO Jin looks more handsome and masculine than Prince Lin Lin? Actually, I think that CEO Jin is perfect! Prince Lin Lin is only a prince but CEO Jin is a King! No, an Emperor! And Boss Iris will soon become his empress when they marry. Did you see their matching outfits? A phoenix and a dragon! How apt! What a gorgeous couple!
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
The WeiRis shippers were having fun fangirling, fanboying and fangaying at their new favourite love team. Despite this, some of the original LinRis shippers were unhappy. They still steadfastly believed that their Prince Lin Lin was the perfect match to Boss Iris, even though the whole world already knew that Iris Long was engaged to CEO Jin Liwei. These fans, however, were bullheaded and refused to change their opinions. Fortunately, no major fights broke out between the LinRis and the WeiRis shippers.
Only very few remained as ZiRis shippers. And even then, they weren’t actually fans of the Iris Long-Lu Zihao pairing. More specifically, they became fans of Lu Zihao himself. They loved his big, muscular body—so manly! Even the scar on his face was a major point of attraction. To normal people, a scar on the face would make other people view them as less attractive. In Lu Zihao’s case, however, the scar made him hotter. But what they found the most attractive about him was his signature devilish smile. It was teasing with a hint of danger.
These shippers continued to promote their favourite pairing. However, their enthusiastic discussions were interrupted by a famous username.
JinChonglin:”To the earlier commenter who said that my big brother is more handsome and masculine than me, come out! In what way does my cold-faced brother more handsome than me? I protest against this!”
The others also followed suit in making fun of Jin Chonglin. They assumed that he was only joking with all of them by acting like a petulant child. And indeed, he started chatting and joking around with the other viewers. Some of them were his own fans. He raved about how proud he was of his “sister-in-law” for winning the Best Soundtrack Award in the prestigious Sommet International Film Festival.
“Jin Chonglin, are you jealous of Iris Long’s award?” someone suddenly asked.
There was no answer. Jin Chonglin became silent.
“Pft! Don’t tell me you’re really jealous? How pathetic,” the anonymous user taunted.
Other trolls popped out and started attackingJin Chonglin. These haters were a common part of the internet, especially when famous superstars like Jin Chonglin were involved.
Although Jin Chonglin seemed to have disappeared, his loyal army of fans descended in droves and defended their Prince Lin Lin against the haters. They attacked left and right. Other Black Stars also joined them. Jin Chonglin’s army of fans and the Black Stars had become even closer during this fall season because of their prince and boss’ music collaboration.
LittlePhoenix: “Although I should be sleeping because I have school tomorrow—wait, the next school day starts in a few hours! Anyway, I’m calling all members of the Slippers Army who are present right now to raise your mighty slippers and defend Prince Lin Lin! He’s our Boss Iris’ future brother-in-law so he’s family! Family should take care of each other!”
