Nation Bonanza
Iris placed her hand on top of her husband's palm and smiled at him. "Yes, Mr. Jin."
Jin Liwei bent down and kissed her hand before escorting her to the set-up. All of their actions were caught on camera. The livestream had already started, titled "The Best of Iris Long Contest" with an alternate title of "CEO Jin's Special 3-Nation Bonanza".
The livestream was targeted at three countries: China, Singapore, and the Philippines.
Three screens behind the cameras showed the live comments. As expected, the Chinese Black Stars were the most numerous. There were already 970 thousand domestic viewers and it was still climbing. Singapore had a modest 1.3 thousand viewers while the Philippines had a rather impressive 22 thousand viewers given that Black Stars Philippines had only been established just a few days ago.
Although the combined number of viewers couldn't compare to the jaw-dropping average stats in the millions of superstars like Jin Chonglin or popular livestreamers, Iris and Jin Liwei didn't care much. They weren't hosting the livestream to break some sort of record anyway. It was just a means to announce the final winners of Jin Liwei's special contest in honour of his wife, Iris Long, and also to thank her loyal fans for supporting her through thick and thin.
The viewers watched as Jin Liwei led Iris to the loveseat. His black, turtleneck tuxedo suit contrasted his wife's white feminine version of the attire. Iris didn't wear a dress this time like she usually did. Instead, she opted to wear the same tailored tuxedo suit as her husband but in white. This was actually Jin Liwei's original idea because he was the one who usually loved matching their outfits. They even wore the same LX monogram cufflinks on their sleeves.
On the first screen, the Chinese Black Stars commented:
"Kyaaaaah! Boss Iris and CEO Jin are a perfect match made in heaven!"
"Yin and Yang! The perfect balance!"
"Boss Iris is still a little too skinny but she looks healthier now. We love you, Boss Iris!"
On the second screen, the Singaporean Black Stars commented:
"Is that really Prince Lin Lin's brother? Wow. He's so handsome!"
"My new goddess Iris Long! Please leave your husband and elope with me instead! I fell in love with you so hard ever since hearing your song 'Shining Eyes' with Jin Chonglin. The song is one
Jin Liwei caught this particular comment and his aura turned cold, freezing everyone around him, except for his wife of course. Iris looked at him and patted his arm, soothing him, and silently telling him not to take the comments of the netizens too seriously.
He gave a cold snort and deliberately interlocked their fingers together so that everyone could see that his wife belonged to him and vice versa. How dare someone tell his wife to leave him and elope away? Even though he knew that the commenter must have been just kidding, he still couldn't stop himself from feeling jealous.
On the third screen, the Filipino Black Stars commented:
"Beautiful lady! Handsome man! Top view, side view, bottom view, no matter which view, I love view!"
Iris tilted her head to the side and analyzed the comment. Then she burst into laughter when she finally got it. Jin Liwei, however, didn't understand it at all.
"No matter which view, I love you," she told him.
His eyes widened, then he laughed as well. "En. No matter which view I look, I'll always love you, too."
All commenters squealed at their PDA no matter which country they came from.
The cheesy lines from the Filipino Black Stars kept on coming.
"Are you a bank loan? Because you got my interest."
"I wish the alphabet would rearrange itself so that 'I' could be next to 'U'."
"Was that an earthquake? Or did you just rock my world?"
Iris was now hugging Jin Liwei's arm tightly while laughing out loud. It wasn't only her. Those who read and understood the English comments from the Filipino Black Stars laughed as well.
"Dom is right. Now I know that Filipinos are indeed romantic." Iris continued laughing, unable to stop.
Unlike her and everyone else, Jin Liwei didn't look amused. What were these people doing? How dare they flirt with his wife in front of him? Was he dead?
But he inwardly admitted that the pick-up lines were quite good albeit a little too corny. He made a mental note to ask Paul Ferrer, Majorie's husband, where he could buy some sort of master list of Filipino pick-up lines. He wanted to use them on his wife since she looked like she liked them very much. They might even spice up their relationship and make his wife fall a little more deeply for him. With this thought in mind, his expression relaxed and he became less intimidating.
At that moment, the combined viewers from the three countries finally surpassed 1 million and they were still climbing. This was already great especially since they chose to livestream in the morning instead of late afternoon or evening like most other popular livestreamers.
The hired director gave a signal to both Jin Liwei and Iris. They smiled at the main camera while Iris' song "Black Star" played softly in the background.
"Welcome, my dear Black Stars, to our home," Iris greeted with a bright smile. "Thank you for joining us today."
She spoke in English. There was a pair of Chinese translators that they hired for the domestic viewers. Similarly, there was also a pair of English translators for the international viewers for when Iris and Jin Liwei spoke in Mandarin. Iris would've done all the translations by herself if not for Jin Liwei worrying that she would exhaust herself too much.
Her eyes caught a few comments on the three screens. She smiled.
"You have sharp eyes. Indeed, this indoor forest is where I married my husband. I also shared in the interview with À la Mode China magazine that my husband converted this part of our home into an indoor forest as a present to me for our first anniversary as lovers. That's why this place is very dear to my heart. "
The comments were flooded with praises.
Jin Liwei spoke next, "As promised, we will now announce the final winners of my special contest."