634 The Dragon and the Phoenix

"Passionate Flames" was a catchy R&B/hip-hop song corresponding to the musical style which Jin Chonglin became known for in recent years when he reinvented himself and solidified his position as a music superstar in the country. It was a sensual song yet not vulgar.

Right after watching the entire music video, the Black Stars and Jin Chonglin's army of fans flooded the internet with their comments. They gushed over the music video and began discussing it among themselves with much excitement.

"Wow! Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris look so AMAZING in this MV! Look at their bodies! Lick the screen! Yum!"

"Prince Lin Lin has always been a great dancer so I'm not surprised about his dancing skills. As for Boss Iris, I remember that she was also a rather good dancer back in her teen pop idol days but she looked so tacky before, like a girl who was trying too hard to become a wannabe sex symbol. I'm so relieved watching her in this MV! She's so sexy while dancing but still somehow managed to maintain her delicate femininity and elegance! How does she do it?!"

"It's because she's our Boss Iris! Everything she decides to do, she does it like a QUEEN!"

"Damn, she can really move her body! CEO Jin is a lucky man!"

"This choreography is top-notch! The best I've watched this year! That dance break! Holy! Ah, the fire! Is that real fire?! Whoa! The sweat on their bodies! Those abs! *dies in happiness*"

"Our Boss Iris doesn't lose to Prince Lin Lin in dancing. That power and strength!"

One amateur music critic commented:

"Everyone's talking about the choreography and the dancing but my favourite is still the song itself. This just proves that both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long are such versatile vocalists. They could sing almost anything! I'm especially impressed with Iris Long. This is a completely different genre than what she has showed us so far—from the cutesy-sexy dance pop during her teen years, to the classical-inspired ballads she mastered when she made her comeback, to the amazing rock-classical fusion she did with Pandemonium, then the sweet love song 'Shining Eyes' which remains a hit until now. Singing this R&B/hip-hop song, her voice doesn't sound out of place at all.

"Now let's talk about the song composition. The music is very Jin Chonglin, something that we're used to listening from him. However, the quality of lyrics are quite different from his previous songs in this genre. This song is more poetic and meaningful. It's clear that he put a great deal of effort writing the lyrics. I suspect that he was influenced by Iris Long who is known not only for her soul-stirring musical composition but also for her thought-provoking lyrics.

"In conclusion, 'Passionate Flames' is a delightful surprise from both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long. Both of them have ventured out of their comfort zones with this song and slayed it with flying colours. But is it a masterpiece? I personally don't think so. Sure, it's awesome. It's a grand piece, I'll give it that, but certainly not a masterpiece. Nevertheless, I still give this song a 4 out of 5 stars!"

The Black Stars and Jin Chonglin's army of fans were thrilled by this amateur critic's review of their boss and prince's new song…at the beginning. They hit the "like" button but when they read the last part of the review, they immediately turned berserk and hit "dislike" in addition to criticizing the critic rather harshly, even though he gave the song a high rating.

"You say it's not a masterpiece? Are you blind and deaf?!"

"Something must be wrong with your ears because 'Passionate Flames' sound like a masterpiece to me. And that dancing? EPIC!!!"

As more and more people watched the music video, many noticed its quality of production.

"The filmography of this MV is seriously lit! Movie-quality, yo! There's an interesting background story and not just random dancing like other typical MVs shot in cheap studios. The budget for this must be expensive!"

"This is Prince Lin Lin we're talking about. Of course Bright Summit will give a superstar like him a big budget for his projects. And he's collaborating with Iris Long, JJ's current protégé. That ogre's record label is the one in charge of their collabs, so of course the quality is guaranteed."

Afterwards, some hawk-eyed people who had already watched the music video many times started noticing symbols. Once someone mentioned them, the fans and even some experts in the music industry began hunting for all the symbols hidden in the music video and trying to decode them.

At first glance, the music video seemed to be a passionate love story between the characters Iris Long and Jin Chonglin were playing. On closer inspection, however, there were a lot of symbols that might be referring to Jin Liwei instead, even though he didn't make any appearane in the MV at all.

One example was a scene where Iris burst into flames and a phoenix-shaped fire shot out of her into the sky. Her fans knew that the phoenix had become somewhat of her symbol when she made a successful comeback with her "Rebirth" album.

The next scene added another layer of symbolism to the phoenix that came out of Iris. A mighty flood dragon suddenly rose up from an icy ocean. The dragon and the phoenix seemed to be barrelling towards each other, roaring mightily like they were about to engage in an epic battle. Contrary to expectations, however, the dragon and the phoenix didn't fight but instead wrapped around each other like lovers before flying up in the sky and disappearing in a spectacular heavenly fireworks.

"Do you remember the matching bangles Boss Iris and CEO Jin always wear? If you look closely, they're engraved with a dragon and a phoenix to represent their eternal love! I bet my humble but mighty slippers that the flood dragon in the MV symbolizes CEO Jin while the phoenix is obviously our boss!"

"OMG! I think you're right! This is freaking awesome!"

"The dragon came out of an icy ocean. CEO Jin Liwei is known for his intimidating, icy-cold expression! Yes, I think he's the flood dragon in this MV!"

"Oh! Don't forget that during the red carpet event at the Sommet International Film Festival in France, CEO Jin and Boss Iris also wore a dragon and phoenix-inspired suit and dress!"

"Yes, I remember! They've always used the dragon and the phoenix as their symbols!"

This particular scene only lasted for a few seconds in the music video yet it ended up being dissected again and again as people tried to extract more meaning from the dragon and phoenix symbols.

There were also other symbols these obsessive fans and experts uncovered. Whether they were intended or not, neither Iris Long nor Jin Chonglin had confirmed yet. JJ's record label and Bright Summit also kept their silence about this topic for now. In the meantime, the people were having a field day trying to decipher more symbols from the music video.

In just one day, the song "Passionate Flames" by Jin Chonglin, featuring Iris Long shot up to the top and became #1 in the daily best-selling rankings of various online music stores and streaming websites and apps.

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[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 read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria]