The next day was chilly and overcast. Yet a massive number of people crowded around a big convention centre in the outskirts of the city. They endured the cold weather, refusing to leave even when the sky drizzled on and off since early morning.
Fortunately, this wasn’t a busy area compared to the city centre. There wasn’t much traffic either. The great crowd didn’t inconvenience others except for the few residents and people working in the area. They were also generally peaceful and didn’t create too much trouble. Despite this, the police still sent more officers to patrol around the convention centre’s vicinity to make sure that the people obeyed the law.
The crowd was mostly made up of fans. They weren’t a single fandom. All of these people ca to support different celebrities. However, one group stood out from this sea of fans. Every single one of them wore black suits, looking very much like triad mbers and alarming so of the passersby into reporting them to the patrolling police officer nearby.
This particular group was already used to dealing with the police whenever they wore their iconic tuxedo suits together to support their boss. They didn’t panic and stayed calm while explaining to the police that they were law-abiding citizens and not a violent triad group.
It happened so often that most of the city’s police officers already recognized their group upon sight, even chatting with them like old friends. A few of the police officers even beca part of the group and wore suits on their day off in order to support their beautiful boss.
The fans weren’t the only ones making up the great crowd. There were also a lot of mbers from the dia. dia trucks with well-known logos of their broadcasting news stations were parked around the convention centre. The reporters and the caran had already started scouting the area and interviewing the fans waiting outside.
When passersby saw the great crowd of fans and the dia, they wondered what was happening.
"Which celebrity is having a concert at the convention centre today?" one of the passersby asked. "There are so many of you who ca. It must be a famous celebrity."
"It’s not a concert. It’s launch for a beauty company," a fan replied.
"What? A company launch? What kind of company launch would garner this many people? I thought that it would either be a concert or a major sports event. But a company launch? This is nuts."
"It’s for this new company called Orchidia Beauty. It’s very popular right now in the beauty community. Almost all of the major social dia influencers are raving about it, including so celebrities. Our Prince Lin Lin—I an Jin Chonglin even endorses it alongside Iris Long. It’s because of the two that a lot of us fans ca here today. We already confird that our Prince Lin Lin and Iris Long will be attending the launch later."
"Oh, I see. So that’s why. I like their song ’Shining Eyes’. I also watch the drama. It’s so good! Their song is still #1 in the music charts ever since it debuted which is super impressive. So all of you here are Iris Long and Jin Chonglin’s fans?"
"Most of us are. But it’s not only us. There are also other fan clubs who ca. There are other celebrities who confird that they will be attending the launch later, so their fans ca here today as well. Plus the social dia influencers and other internet stars who were invited have their own followers. I think many of them are here too."
"Wow! Really? What kind of company is this Orchidia Beauty to be able to invite all of these celebrities? Is it really a new company? This is basically an all-stars event!"
"I know, right? That’s why in addition to coming here today to support our favourite celebrities, we’re also all very curious about the owner of Orchidia Beauty. They’re keeping the owner’s identity a secret for now. So mysterious! But we’ll all know who it is later! I’m so excited!"
"My gosh, too! Is it okay if I join your group? I want to stay here and see all the celebrities coming later."
"Sure! Co join us, new comrade!"
Scenes like this were common around the convention centre. It was still morning but the crowd of fans and onlookers kept on coming and growing.
More police officers were also called over to keep the crowd from going out of control. However, the police were paying more attention to the mbers of the dia, preventing any of the daring reporters without press badges from sneaking inside the convention centre.
Orchidia Beauty invited the dia long ago but only a few of them responded and confird their attendance. As a result, only very few of them were given official press badges. But after Iris and Jin Liwei’s bombshell of an announcent—confirming their relationship during the Somt International Film Festival in France—almost all the dia outlets clamoured to attend the grand launch. Iris and Jin Liwei were hot trending topics in the country right now. So many people wanted to see them together and confirm their relationship with their own eyes.
Unfortunately, Orchidia Beauty only gave a few additional press badges after the original batch. The ones who didn’t receive press badges complained, but Orchidia Beauty only apologized politely before giving the reason "limited space" for being unable to give more.
Whether this was true or not, they couldn’t be certain. After all, it was them who snubbed the company’s invitation first. They had no choice but to make do without the official press badges and find an effective way to cover the event outside the convention centre instead.
The ones who responded to the company’s invitations were now thanking their good decision. At first, they planned on sending their newbie reporters who needed experience. They didn’t think much about the new company at all. But now they decided to send their major star reporters to personally cover the grand launch party.
It wasn’t only Iris Long, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin who would be the biggest attractions of the event. There were also many other celebrities and important figures who would be attending. The dia had already confird that the leaked guest list was indeed authentic.
Morning.
Then noon.
The weather wasn’t the most pleasant today, but the great crowd didn’t mind. They stayed put and chattered in excitent among themselves.
Finally, the grey and drizzly sky gradually cleared. The sun peeked through until it blazed in its full glory and splendour, pushing the thick clouds away. The chilly weather ward up a little, making the crowd feel more comfortable.
Later in the afternoon, security was tightened at the main entrance of the convention centre. Once the place was cleared, the red carpet beca visible. It looked glamorous and very similar to movie premiers and award shows. Was this really a company launch?
The fans and spectators arranged themselves behind the barricades. The dia who didn’t have official press badges were assigned their own section. Like the fans and spectators, they weren’t allowed to step on the other side of the barricades to the red carpet itself.
Just before twilight, the first batch of guests started arriving. The temporary warmth from the sun earlier was now gone. It had beco chilly again. Fortunately, the event organizers were thoughtful. Tarpaulin tents were set up over the barricade areas to shelter the crowd from the chill in the air. There were also heaters providing warmth to them.
The first guests who arrived were mostly beauty influencers. Many of them were very popular on the internet. A handful of them were considered internet superstars with mind-blowing number of followers far surpassing those of mainstream celebrities. A couple of them were so famous that their massive online fan base extended outside the country. They had loyal fans from different countries all over the world.
And these internet superstars were attending this new company’s launch?
These beauty influencers were the ones who gave positive reviews to the Orchidia Beauty products sent to them as PR packages by the company during the sumr. They liked the products so much that they raved about them even without getting financial paynt. They couldn’t wait for the company’s official launch, so of course they would accept the invitation for today!
Their fans also crowded outside the convention centre. When these beauty influencers arrived, the loud screaming and shrieking started.
The main stars, Iris Long and the brothers Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin hadn’t arrived yet, but the excitent was already shooting through the roof.
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