Chapter 1679: Stormy

Girl Abante, however, didn’t cower despite being scolded. She had confidence in her status.

Someone like her, who had survived this long in a messy industry like show business, had accumulated dirt on several powerful people. If this network dared to threaten her, then she dared to threaten them back.

Although she didn’t have dirt on these two executives in particular, she had dirt on their colleagues. Just threaten the other executives, and they would soon be busy trying to wipe their own as*es to bother themselves with her.

Ketchup had reported all these happenings to her mommy and daddy after recording everything from the studio’s own surveillance network. Of course, being an obedient kitty baby, she had also reported that she and her brother, Bacon, had gone to their Uncle Haohao earlier.

Iris Long didn’t expect that her own cat AI children would go to her brother and instigate him into getting revenge for her.

"This is Bacon’s idea, right?" Jin Liwei had asked.

"Yes, Daddy!" Ketchup had replied. "The cute and mighty Ketchup was afraid of being scolded by Mommy and Daddy, but Bacon said Uncle Haohao can take all the blame! Hihihi~ Meow~"

Jin Liwei had also laughed.

Iris Long could only sigh while shaking her head. If not for the fact that she created Bacon herself, she would have wondered if he was her brother’s own child. Bacon’s vindictive nature was a trademark of the Vetrovs.

She only felt glad that she hadn’t created Bacon yet during the heyday of the Vetrov criminal empire. If Bacon had already existed back then, she could only imagine how much more formidable the Vetrovs would have grown. Perhaps they wouldn’t have collapsed. They would have dominated the global criminal underworld and crushed their enemies without any hope of survival.

Thinking about it, she didn’t know exactly how to feel.

The Vetrovs had been her family in her past life as Evelina Vetrova. Yet she would never deny that the Vetrov criminal empire had been one of the most evil organizations the world had ever seen.

Just by being connected to them by blood had already made her a sinner.

Being reborn as Long Xiulan was her redemption.

She hoped that her brother, the former Nikolai Vetrov, could also treat this life as his redemption.

However, she also knew that she couldn’t control her brother. She could only hope that his family—Long Jinjing and their twins—would inspire him not to seek vengeance upon the Vetrov enemies anymore.

As for Bacon’s existence, Iris felt a strong responsibility for creating him. She couldn’t bear to destroy Bacon, so she and her husband could only work together to teach their cat AI son to become a responsible protector of their family.

Iris didn’t have any grand ambitions of being responsible for the entire mankind. She only cared about her family, friends, and loved ones. She would do anything and everything to protect everyone she loved and cared about.

Ketchup and Bacon were the ultimate protectors that she created. She hoped that even in the future, when she and her husband were gone, the two could still continue to watch over the next generations of their family.

Back to the present, Iris and Jin Liwei embraced each other in bed, as they continued talking about Girl Abante.

After they left her show’s studio, Iris had been too worked up to visit her new friends at "Ready, Set, Lunch Party". She only asked Dom to send them some gifts.

Master Beauty, Dina Bendita, Albert Alcala and his wife, Virginia Velasco, along with the other hosts of the noon-time program, contacted Dom to thank Iris for the gifts. They also expressed concern after hearing about her negative experience with Girl Abante.

Since the incident happened in the network building, word had spread quickly among the people.

Girl Abante’s staff, especially those who voted against her targeting Iris Long, hadn’t bothered to keep what happened a secret. They divulged the details to their associates from other programs and departments. It turned out that Girl Abante’s staff members weren’t as loyal to her as she thought.

"Since Bacon has already made a move with the help of your brother, don’t bother wasting your energy on that woman anymore," Jin Liwei said, kissing his wife’s forehead. "You already did your part in slapping that woman’s face during the interview when she tried several times to make it difficult for you."

Iris pursed her lips. She wanted to do something herself, feeling uncomfortable about leaving her mess for others to clean up—although said mess wasn’t created by her. Girl Abante was the one who created the mess and dragged Iris into it.

Jin Liwei sensed her thoughts from her expression. He kissed her hair. "Love, remember your purpose in coming to this country. It wasn’t to waste your time with a pest, is it?"

"You’re right," she said, sighing. "I have better things to do."

He kissed her again and continued patting her back.

They talked about other things until Iris finally fell asleep.

After making sure that his wife was indeed deeply sleeping, Jin Liwei stared at the ceiling with a dark expression. He hadn’t made a move, not because he didn’t want to, but because he prioritized his wife’s emotional and mental well-being first. That didn’t mean, however, that he would just let things slide.

Girl Abante had thoroughly offended him, his wife, and their entire family.

He waited for half an hour before carefully disentangling himself from his wife’s embrace. Then he took his phone, pocketed it, before heading outside the bedroom to the suite’s living area. The place was dim but flickered now and then due to the lightning outside.

"Sir!"

Jin Liwei nodded at the bodyguard protecting them throughout the night. There should be others where he couldn’t see.

Their security detail was comprehensive; a mixture of his own staff and Lu Zihao’s subordinates. Both he and his brother-in-law agreed that their wife/sister’s safety was paramount, especially since she was travelling in another country.

Jin Liwei stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows and watched the storm raging outside. According to the country’s national weather agency, it wasn’t a typhoon. Even so, it still looked dangerous.

Strong winds buffeted the skyscrapers. There were hardly any vehicles that dared to travel on the streets.

Then the power was cut off.

Everything went dark for a couple of seconds before the emergency lights activated.

Jin Liwei’s first instinct was to check on his sleeping wife, but the hotel’s generators also activated. The power came back on, but not at full capacity. The lights were dimmer, and there was a faint hum throughout the hotel building.

One of the bedroom doors in the suite opened. Out came Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan.

"Third Brother, you’re awake?" Lin Yehan asked, yawning.

In contrast to his sleepy appearance, his wife, Jiang Ying Yue, appeared fully awake even in her pyjamas. She nodded at Jin Liwei before checking the suite and the hallways with her colleagues.

"Can’t sleep?" Lin Yehan asked as he sat on the couch.

"En." Jin Liwei stayed standing by the windows.

"I heard from Ying Yue about what happened with Third Sister-in-law Xiulan earlier today. That Girl Abante sure has some serious guts to dare go head-to-head against your wife, knowing that you’re the husband."

"This country has its own hidden rules," Jin Liwei said. "That woman must have thought that we can’t do anything in her territory."

Lin Yehan’s usual gentle expression was marred by a smirk. "If this were fifty years ago, sure, we might not be able to do anything in another country. But we now live in a globalized world where every country is connected to each other in some way. What are your plans?"

"Waiting."

"Huh? Waiting for what?"

Lighting flashed.

"For evidence." Jin Liwei glanced at Lin Yehan. "That Girl Abante wants controversy. Then we’ll give her controversy."

"Ah." Lin Yehan nodded. "It seemed that this country would be stormy for a while."

Jiang Ying Yue returned to the suite, followed by the night-shift bodyguard. "Everything’s clear. The front desk said that the power might not be back on for a while. The Wi-Fi and some of the electric appliances might not work properly. We have to wait until the storm passes."

"En."

"How’s Xiulan?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

Jin Liwei’s eyes softened. "She’s sleeping."

Jiang Ying Yue sighed in relief. "That’s good. She should rest tomorrow. She has been working too hard. With this kind of storm, I think her appointments tomorrow will all be cancelled."

"En."

The husband and wife, Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue, said good night to Jin Liwei and returned to their bedroom.

Jin Liwei stayed in the living area, watching the raging storm outside. The phone in his pocket vibrated. He fished it out.

A white cat appeared on his phone screen. Since there was another person in the suite—the bodyguard—Ketchup communicated with text instead.

Despite the lack of Wi-Fi and local network signals, Jin Liwei’s phone still worked perfectly.

Thanks to his wife’s technological expertise, their devices connected directly to a satellite launched by Evelina Vetrova in her past life as a student of Cross Academy. The satellite had remained active since then. Cross Academy had taken over it after Evelina’s death.

Now that she had been reborn as Long Xiulan and once again became a Cross Academy student, she began using the satellite again for smoother connections for her entire family. As long as they could see the sky, their devices would always be connected to the internet.

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