“You brat!” JJ slapped his thighs. “Is that the reason why you’ve decreased your showbiz activities and took a backseat on your music?”
“Yes, Mr. JJ,” Iris replied. Her voice was now very calm, even sweet.
Jin Liwei did an excellent job in calming her down with a kiss and a chocolate bar.
“Fine! I’ll forgive you for shouting at me just now. Hmph! Good thing that I, JJ, am a very understanding person! If it were another person, I would’ve already fired him or her for shouting at me like you did.”
Iris only smiled and handed Jin Liwei the empty wrapper of the chocolate bar that she just finished. He unwrapped another one before giving it to her. She started eating the second bar while pressing herself closer to him who was now sitting on the arm of her chair.
“Hey, brat! Are you still listening to me?!”
She glanced at the scowling JJ. “Yes, Mr. JJ. I’m listening.”
“Hmph!” He watched her eating the chocolate. “Tell me what type of food you’re craving. I’ll send some to you. Oh, right! I got the invite for next week. I’ll give you a care package curated for pregnant women to you then. But before that, can you at least tell me what I will be attending next week? The invitation doesn’t say anything!”
She didn’t reply but nudged Jin Liwei to answer instead.
“It’s a secret for now, Mr. JJ,” Jin Liwei said. “Just please come. Xiulan and I will appreciate your presence on the day.”
“Alright. Fine! Since my protégé Iris Long is asking me, JJ, so nicely, then I’ll make sure to come!”
“Thank you, Mr. JJ.” Iris gave her music producer a bright smile.
“Let’s continue our meeting another day,” JJ announced. “We’ve been at it for a few hours now. A pregnant woman should have lots of rest!”
“But we’re not done discussing—”
“We’re done for today!” JJ’s tone was final. He also gave a meaningful look at Jin Liwei.
He took the hint and told his baby girl, “Mr. JJ is right, love. Time to rest. You can continue your discussion another time.”
She was reluctant but still acquiesced. “Fine.”
“In the meantime, I’ll re-think about the versions that I sent you today and consider your suggestions,” JJ said. “But I just want you to remember that these songs are going to be sung by other artists, not you. We need to consider the version that will fit the artists’ personal styles the best. And also, not everyone can perform complicated vocal runs like you do. Sometimes we need to adjust our expectations.
“Like you and me, for example. I always expect a lot from you because I know that you can do everything that I ask of you. That’s not the case for some of my artists but I still work with them because they have their own unique strengths. But of course, that doesn’t mean that I’ll go easy on them. Hah! As if I, JJ, will do something like that! They still have to work hard in improving themselves while satisfying the high standards of being artists signed under my record label.
“My point is for you to let go of your tendency to control everything, especially since you’ve already decided to take a backseat and allow other artists to perform the songs that you’ve written. Trust me and let me do my magic! There’s no way that I, JJ, an award-winning music producer, would produce crap!”
JJ’s words made Iris ponder. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you’re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It’s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you! Also follow me on Instagram @arriacross]
He added, “If you want more control, then sign up as a music producer next time. You have a bit of an experience producing with me before, so you already know what to expect. But for now, leave everything to me! Alright, brat?”
She thought about it some more before finally nodding. “Alright, Mr. JJ.”
“Excellent!”
After saying goodbye to each other, the video call ended. Iris sighed and rubbed her face against Jin Liwei’s shirt, making sure to inhale his scent.
“I wanted to be the music co-producer of the songs I wrote,” she murmured.
“We already talked about this, Evelina.”
She sighed again. “I know.”
He kissed the top of her head. “You can be the producer next time after you’ve given birth to our babies. You can do whatever you want. You know that. I’ll support you all the way. But you need to focus on your health during this time.”
She nodded and rubbed her stomach. It was still flat. Just by looking at her appearance, nobody would suspect that she was pregnant. She hadn’t gained any extra weight. She was still in the first trimester so no baby bump yet.
Afterwards, they left the music studio and stayed in the cat room to play with Little Jun, Ice Cream and Popcorn and also chat with the talkative Ketchup while waiting for dinner time. Bacon seemed to be busy with his work at Shadow Winds so he was absent.
“We’ll have a meeting with our wedding planner tomorrow,” Jin Liwei said. “Then on Sunday, our friends will come for the rehearsal.”
Iris nodded. She already knew about their schedule for this weekend.
“Love, I would like to make some changes regarding my best man.”
She tilted her head to the side. He told her what he had planned.
“I don’t mind,” she said. “If that’s what you want.”
“Thank you, Evelina,” he told her in Russian.
She beamed and replied to him in Russian as well. “You’re welcome, Liwei.”
Jin Liwei had been diligent in learning the Russian language. He had become more motivated to master it after learning his baby girl’s origins in her past life.
“Also, I would like to introduce you to someone important to me before our wedding,” he said.
“Who?”
“You’ll meet him on Sunday. Hopefully.”
“He’ll be here with our friends?”
“En.”
She studied his expression, trying to get some clues from his face but to no avail. “Okay, darling. I’m looking forward to meeting that person.”
He smiled, but deep inside, he hoped that everything would go well and that the meeting wouldn’t stress her too much.
