Chapter 1117: What Happened to Iris Long?

The large screen suspended above the stage flickered and then began playing Iris Long's video message. It showed her head down to her upper chest. Her long, straight, silky hair framed her beautiful face.

She had not made a public appearance for quite some time now. If it weren't for the fact that her name kept on being dragged in the headlines, she would've already been forgotten by the general public except for her loyal fans, the Black Stars. 

Showbiz was a cutthroat industry. It had a huge turnover rate of celebrities. Those who were unable to build or maintain their popularity would soon be replaced by fresh faces. Then the cycle would start all over again. 

This didn't apply to Iris Long, though. She was still able to maintain her fame despite not producing any new work in showbiz and showing herself now and then. On the contrary, she became more popular in recent weeks because of all the times that her name was mentioned in the news, even though the stories had nothing to do with her personally.

For the majority of the people, this was the first time that they had seen Iris Long for what felt like a long time. She still looked beautiful, of course, but they were all shocked to see that she had become so much thinner. She lost so much weight! 

Her chin became pointier and her cheekbones sharper, making her phoenix eyes appear larger. Her shoulders became smaller and her collarbones deeper.  It was also obvious that she was recording in her bed.

Unlike her usual blinding beauty which always brightened any room she walked in, her beauty this time was delicate and elicited pity and a sense of protectiveness from those who saw her.

A concerned murmur arose from the audience. It wasn't only them. The huge crowd camping outside the hotel, mostly consisting of Jin Chonglin's army of fans, also couldn't help but feel distressed upon seeing her. It was the same with the livestream viewers. The ones who felt most affected were the Black Stars.

"CaptainBlackStar: Boss Iris, what happened to you? You looked absolutely blooming when I saw you at your wedding with CEO Jin but how could you become so sick so soon? Ah, my heart hurts seeing you like this!"

The other members also echoed CaptainBlackStar's concerns. They were all afraid that their Boss Iris had contracted a serious illness. Maybe that was why she had stopped almost all of her showbiz work. They all cried. Some even began blaming Jin Liwei.

"CEO Jin, we entrusted our Boss Iris to you and felt genuinely happy that you married her, even though we thought that you're too old for her. Then we see her like this after your supposed happy wedding?! You're not taking care of our boss properly!"

"Boss Iris' health has always been fragile ever since she made a comeback after her car accident—no, attempted murder. There's no way that I'll forget that Prince Lin Lin's crazy ex-fiancée, that Fan Luo, wanted to murder our boss, causing her to crash her own car and become comatose for an entire year. The bitch even made the lives of many other women who were linked to Prince Lin Lin back then a living hell. Truly an evil woman! Anyway, as I was saying, Boss Iris' health hasn't been the best because of what she went through back then due to that evil Fan Luo."

"I agree! And now, she has to deal with another crazy woman who attempted to rape her husband! No wonder Boss Iris got sick! All the stress must be too much for her to handle!"

"All I have to say is that I feel sorry for Boss Iris for becoming involved with the Jin brothers who are magnets for insane women who aren't afraid to commit the most evil crimes. Boss Iris, please hang in there!"

There were also those who defended the brothers, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot) com. Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

"It isn't the fault of CEO Jin Liwei and Prince Lin Lin that those kind of madwomen fell for them. Don't blame them anymore. They're victims, too."

"True. CEO Jin and Prince Lin Lin shouldn't be blamed. But I think that the one who suffered the most is our Boss Iris. First, she almost died from the hands of Prince Lin Lin's ex-fiancée. And now, she fell sick and went into seclusion even though her career is at a point that she should be producing more work and making more public appearances to capitalize on all the attention to become more famous. But no, that disgusting Rose Young just had to kidnap our boss' husband and attempt to sexually violate him. If someone did that to my own husband, I would probably go crazy and murder the immoral bitch. I bet Boss Iris became too furious that she fell sick."

The discussion continued and became more intense as they watched Iris Long's video message. Her voice sounded heavenly as usual but the people still detected the faint note of weakness in it. 

"Good evening. My name is Iris Long and I'm the President and CEO of Orchidia Beauty. Due to some health issues, I regret that I'm unable to join tonight's celebration of the—I daresay—best skincare line for men in the country. We at Orchidia Beauty will continue striving hard to develop this exclusive men's line of skincare products, and of course, all the rest of our products, so that we can become one of the best in the world. This is only the first step in achieving a better and more natural way to take care of our skin whether you're a woman or a man or anyone in between.

"I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to the person who is one of the artists in music that I truly admire. He is my senior in the industry—a very inspiring one—and many of you are already aware that he's also now my dear brother-in-law.

"Thank you, Brother Jin Chonglin, for accepting my offer to collaborate with my new company and believing in our ability at Orchidia Beauty to create an all-natural line of skincare products for you with the highest standards possible to match and even go beyond your own already high standards."