Chapter 1019 All the Shocking News
The post-wedding celebration at both Jin Liwei and Iris Long's companies was so large-scale especially with Jin Corporation's international influence that it even got on the news. Employees proudly posted photos of their lunch on their social media accounts, garnering the attention of other netizens outside their circles.
Many regarded the sumptuous buffet lunch as an equivalent to the newlyweds' banquet to those who weren't invited to the small, extremely private wedding. The buffet lunch might only be for three hours and the employees still had to return to work afterwards but they felt good because their bosses hadn't forgotten to celebrate their wedding with them.
Despite the fact that Iris Long had been lying low in the last couple of months and limiting her public appearances to a bare minimum, her name along with Jin Liwei had become a regular sight on the headlines after the successive bombshells the couple dropped in this week alone.
First was the shocking announcement of their marriage just this past Monday through the popular À la Mode magazine. It came from out of nowhere and sent the general public in an uproar.
Next was the super enticing special contest hosted by Jin Liwei in honour of his new wife, Iris Long. Only official members of her fan club, the Black Stars, were eligible to enter and win the eye-popping prizes estimated to be worth at around 100 million RMB. So many people from across the country signed up to become Black Stars just to enter the contest, hoping to win one of the numerous prizes. All they needed to do was praise Iris Long to the high heavens. How hard could it be? They could only do their best to stand out from the rest of the pack with their creativity and hope that Jin Liwei would like what they submitted.
Then came another shocking news. This time, superstar Jin Chonglin was added to the mix. The fact that someone of his status in showbiz was finally leaving his long-time "home" and starting his own entertainment company with his sister-in-law and brother was in itself already deserving to make not only the national headlines but also the news abroad where several armies of his foreign fans were thriving.
Following in the footsteps of his older brother, the elite CEO Jin Liwei, and even his fellow celebrity sister-in-law Iris Long who had just launched her own wildly successful company, Orchidia Beauty, it seemed that Jin Chonglin was now a true boss in the literal sense of the word. He was even revealed to be the majority owner of LXC Studio, holding half of the company's equity, while Iris Long and Jin Liwei shared the remaining half between the two of them.
These news were all shocking but they received mainly positive responses from the general public. The next news that came afterwards were also exciting but for all the wrong reasons.
All of a sudden, Jin Liwei fired his company's Chief Marketing Officer. Jin Corporation was a huge multinational company so this was a big deal. There were speculations that Iris Long became jealous of the CMO and thus made her husband fire the hapless businesswoman.
The executive in question, Rose Young, had an impressive résumé that made her very appealing to almost any world-class companies. She definitely became an asset to Jin Corporation after being hired but it only took a few months for Jin Liwei to fire her.
A very conspicuous group of netizens began openly criticizing Jin Liwei for his decision which they called a big mistake. Of course, they also criticized his wife Iris Long—much more harshly, in fact—for influencing an elite businessman like him to start mismanaging his company. The Black Stars immediately came out in droves and sent out their notorious troll unit, the Slippers Army, to defend their Boss Iris and her husband Jin Liwei against all those who were attacking their names.
This nasty online battle didn't take long, however, because the tabloids quickly changed their tune and redirected their line of fire from the newlyweds Iris Long and Jin Liwei to Rose Young, the woman who was seen as the victim in the whole situation earlier, but was now being painted as a shameless, obsessive homewrecker.
The sex videos featuring her moaning Jin Liwei's name drew outrage from the public. It disgusted and angered the Black Stars, causing them to feel extra protective of their Boss Iris's marriage with Jin Liwei.
Coveting someone else's spouse was taboo to a lot of people, especially wives and girlfriends who had their own fair share of experiences dealing with their partners' mistresses. Not only did audacious women destroy marriages but they also fractured many families. Of course, this kind of hatred also applied to boyfriends and husbands who had to deal with their partners' extramarital affairs.
As a result of the viral sex videos, Rose Young was now labelled a homewrecker. People felt that she deserved to be fired. Public sympathy quickly reversed from Rose Young to Iris Long. Since Iris Long was the official wife, she automatically gained the support of the majority of the people.
Despite this, there were still a few remaining naysayers who continued to defend Rose Young and attack Iris Long and Jin Liwei. They said that the sudden reversal of the situation was suspicious. Then they claimed that Iris Long and Jin Liwei must have manipulated the events to clear their names while casting all the blame on Rose Young. This group, however, failed to elicit support from the general public.
The newlyweds' bad blood with Rose Young hadn't been resolved yet. It was still very hot in the news, especially on the internet where the sex videos were spreading like an infestation of bed bugs.
Although this was the case, Iris Long and Jin Liwei appeared to be unaffected by all the negative publicity related with Rose Young. Once again, their names appeared together on the news to show off their recent marriage through their widescale post-wedding celebrations in their companies.
It was basically just lunch—no big deal, right?
Wrong.
How could it not be a big deal?