His Genius Wife is a SuperstarHis Genius Wife is a Superstar
After Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei left, Iris and Jin Liwei didn't leave immediately. Instead, Iris took some time to appreciate the congratulatory flower arrangements and gift baskets that friends and acquaintances sent Liberté.
One of the most conspicuous was a huge flower arrangement with a shining black star in the middle. Her fans sent it. The fan club's president, Zhou Mei'er (a.k.a. CaptainBlackStar), signed it on behalf of everyone.
Other notable members of the Black Stars sent their own congratulatory presents including Madame Feng Wan (a.k.a. MrsLovePhantom) and her three posh friends—Si Xinyue (a.k.a. JJNumber1Fan and the Chief of Police's wife), Bai Li (a.k.a. JJNumber2Fan), and Kung Mian (JJNumber2Fan).
Hou Liang (a.k.a. MonkeyFace) and Wu Chen (a.k.a. iEatSlippers) also sent a huge flower arrangement on behalf of their gaming company, Planet Monkey.
Iris stopped by an adorable flower arrangement which featured white and black stuffed toy cats. The card said that it was sent by KittyBaby and PantherBaby of the BlackStars.
She showed her husband the card.
Jin Liwei smiled. What he didn't tell his wife was that he knew all about their AI cat children's gift for the grand opening of their mother's Liberté perfumery. In fact, he helped Ketchup and Bacon choose a design that their mother would surely appreciate. And he was right. Iris almost couldn't take her eyes off the adorable stuffed toy cats.
"Let's have Clover save them after today and send them to you later," he suggested.
Her eyes lit up. "Okay."
They moved on to the other congratulatory presents.
There were many sent by Iris and Jin Liwei's family and closest friends.
Lu Zihao, Long Jinjing, and their twins. Even Long Jinjing's mother, Sun Jingfei, sent something.
Lin Yehan, Jiang Ying Yue, and Little Jun.
Dom, who came with them to Paris, still prepared a fabulous flower basket with sparkly ribbons. He also prepared a separate one to represent his family, the Chuas, as instructed by his parents.
Meimei also asked Dom to prepare one for her as well.
Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui sent their own congratulatory present.
Long Jian sent one as well, causing Iris to feel surprised for a moment. But only for a moment. Her relationship with Long Jian had already improved a lot after they agreed to become allies at Long Industries. When she thought about it more deeply, it wasn't that surprising that he would send Liberté a congratulatory gift.
The most surprising, however, was Long Hui. The man sent the simplest and smallest basket. If Jin Liwei hadn't accidentally kicked it on the floor, Iris wouldn't have noticed it. She picked it up and read the card. It read:
"Congratulations on Liberté's grand opening, from Long Hui."
Iris raised an eyebrow and handed the card to Jin Liwei. He read it with a cold face. Then he tucked the card back into the small basket and placed it back along the other flower arrangements.
"Don't overthink it, love."
She nodded.
Indeed, there was no use in overthinking about Long Hui's motives. Her conscience was clear. His wasn't.
Sending presents like this couldn't prove whether the man was sincere or not. He needed to show it through his actions.
Next, Iris chuckled after discovering that the over-the-top flower curtain snaking throughout one of the walls was sent by Grandpa Lu. She thought that it was a last-minute decoration addition by the organizer. Fortunately, the flower curtain was beautiful and matched Liberté's aesthetics.
Wei Lan also sent something together with her husband, Vizconde Marco Sebastian del Aguila y Gonzales.
"Isn't the vizconde still in a coma?" Iris whispered.
"En, this congratulatory present should be Wei Lan's idea," Jin Liwei said.
Iris frowned. "Are you sure? I don't think she's that type of person to remember unless we repeatedly remind her."
Then her eyes caught something. The next gift basket came from René Alejandro. "Ah. He must have reminded Wei Lan."
Jin Liwei made an affirmative sound in his throat. His tone was dismissive of the Spaniard.
Although René Alejandro had shown some goodwill toward him and his wife before he and Wei Lan left for Barbados to take care of the injured vizconde, Jin Liwei still couldn't find it in himself to treat the Spaniard like a friend. Even so, it was difficult to slap a smiling face.
Iris frowned and tilted her head to the side upon reading who sent the next flower arrangement. Curious, Jin Liwei leaned over and took a look. He scowled.
It was from Emilio Miguel.
The gorgeous man who René Alejandro introduced as his older brother, a fellow orphan that the vizconde sponsored. Unfortunately, the vizconde only formally adopted René Alejandro.
Jin Liwei still remembered his intense jealousy after seeing the stunned reaction of his wife when they first met Emilio Miguel at an auction. Iris had admitted back then that she found the man extremely handsome. However, that wasn't what upset him.
It was the way that Emilio Miguel had ogled Iris that made Jin Liwei want to punch the man's face. It was utterly disrespectful to look at someone else's woman with clear lust in his eyes. Jin Liwei would never forget it.
Just remembering it was enough to put him in a bad mood. Without even thinking, he grabbed the flower arrangement and the card, called one of their bodyguards, and ordered for the flowers to be disposed of.
Iris didn't say anything. She, too, hated the way the man looked at her back then. It felt like Emilio Miguel had been peeling her clothes off with his eyes.
The husband and wife had a tacit agreement not to comment about it anymore. They moved on to the other congratulatory gifts.
Fortunately for them, Clover who noticed something amiss with the couple reacted quickly and told a little white lie to the nearby curious customers. "CEO Jin is allergic to that kind of small flowers. That's why he had it taken away."
"Oh~" The customers believed her and no longer thought about the incident. They continued browsing around the shop.
Iris' Cross Academy friends also sent a variety of lovely flower arrangements.
Ashandra Knightson was unable to attend today's grand opening to the public because she had to prepare for her art exhibition in a couple of days. But she did send a beautiful flower basket so artfully arranged that Iris took it and displayed it in a more prominent position in the middle of the store.
AJ Zheneres, Theresa Blipsburg, and Florence O'Sevan all sent flower baskets as well. In addition, Amanpio Kileksky sent an enormous flower wreath on behalf of their other schoolmates including Michael Exlorsson, Logann Wiztein, and Trumann Seekerton.
Cross Academy's Headmaster, Professor Erwan Dupont.
Cross Academy's admissions counsellor, Giulia Moretti.
Iris' foreign languages instructors, Professor Kalisha Schwartz and Professor Hisakawa Akio.
Her music mentors, Maestro Ludovico de Luca, and of course, the legendary hitmaker Enrique Valdez.
Grandpa Lu's old friends and fellow Cross Academy alumnus also sent simple flower arrangements.
The French magnate.
The nerdy tech billionaire.
Sheikha Amira and her friend, the daughter of a British marquess.
Director Jabar Wilkins.
People from Iris' Orchidia family including:
Alric Bauer, Orchidia's Chief Product Officer.
Alona Bauer, Orchidia Germany's head.