IHWL – Chapter 99.3

   Saturday, the sky was clear.

    Before the clock struck two, Li Juan had arrived at the venue of the fan meeting.

    The birthday party was scheduled to be held at sunset. However, a few hours beforehand, numerous fans were already gathered outside the venue. Even the fans who didn’t have the tickets gathered outside the venue, hoping to try their luck.

    The birthday party venue was located in an elegant private garden in the suburbs. It was the time of flowering, and the lush flowering trees peeked out from the garden fence, looking like a waterfall of flowers from afar.

    The main venue of the birthday party was in the glass flower room in the center of the garden. It was thousands of square meters of flower room, which was enough to accommodate nearly a thousand spectators. After getting the tickets, Li Juan specially googled the owner of the garden —— Unsurprisingly, it was Su Jin’s rumored boyfriend, Mu Xiulun.

    Outside the flower room, Su Jin’s fan stations and fan clubs in different areas set up a single easy-to-open treasure, attracting small fans into chattering and taking pictures. There were also fans who were good at drawing and painting hand-painted postcards and were exchanging material with other fans.

    Li Juan looked at this group of small fans who didn’t know how to worry and didn’t know whether to envy their big hearts or lament their optimism.

    But inside the venue, there were extremely worried fans like Li Juan.

    In the distance, there was a sound of suppressed arguments. Li Juan listened sideways and found that they were discussing the online material about real and fake Su Jin.

    One fan said angrily, “This is Jinjin’s birthday party! If you don’t trust Jinjin, then get out!” Li Juan knew her. She was the president of Su Jin’s fan club in East China. She was old and had a high reputation. Behind her stood several people who supported her viewpoint and insisted that it was nonsense even in the face of the ‘tear mole’ that had been put up online.

    Confronting her were two young fans, one of whom cried and asked, “It’s not that we don’t trust Jinjin, but we want to know who we’re investing our love on. Is that wrong?”

    Fan circle ecology was complex. Older fans didn’t represent Buddhism and reason, and younger fans weren’t necessarily brainless.

    Seeing that the two parties were about to quarrel, Li Juan quickly mediated, hoping that they would not quarrel with each other and turn Su Jin’s birthday unpleasant.

    The time passed, and amidst everyone’s eager anticipation, the glass flower room door finally opened.

    The security guards lined up to check the tickets. In addition to the fans invited to come, there were also a lot of media carrying the cannons and the impeccably attired brand leaders.

    The recent rumors about Su Jin had intensified, and many people were waiting to see what would happen.

    At the entrance, a scalper tried to break in and clashed with the security guard. Immediately, a staff member rushed out to separate the two sides. The scalper lost face, and seeing that the income was about to fly away from his pocket, he cursed uncontrollably, “Who the hell is Su Jin? Everyone knows that she is a fraud. Ptooey, she’s really f*cking shameless! Let me see how long she can be popular!”

    The security guard received a spit on his face with his ptooey. But before the security guard forked him out, other fans formed a spontaneous front and choked the scalper.

    “Who said Su Jin is a fraud?!”

    “Who said she won’t be popular for long?!!!”

    “Jinjin organized this birthday party to give back to her fans who truly love her. She even covered our airfare and accommodation expenses! You’re the most shameless person!”

    “In your eyes, Su Jin is a tool for you to make money, but not in our eyes!!”

    One sentence, one stance, these voices merged together and formed a huge wave, hitting the scalper head-on. Now that the scalper was besieged by so many people, he turned beet red. He stuck his neck up, but he couldn’t even find a chance to refute.

    The vast majority of fans who could stand there had outstanding contributions in the fan clubs. In a third dimension, they all looked very ordinary, just like everyone in this society: they were students who had endless problems during the day and shouted for Su Jin at night; they were company employees, business elites and bottom screws, but they would take out a part of their monthly income to buy products endorsed by Su Jin; there were also people who were depressed, introverted and shy, but were a small green dragon on the Internet. Their brain holes might be big, but their output was fast…

    They all loved Su Jin in their own way.

    They, too, would be confused and disagree because of the online exposé, but in front of those detractors, fans would screw together and become the most solid shield and a wall around their idol to keep the damage at bay.

    ……

    The crowd continued to move forward, and the fans left behind the clutter of the outside world and stepped into this fantasy venue that Su Jin had constructed for them.

    Thousands of square meters of glass flower room was surrounded by countless dainty flowers. The place pictured a fairy tale kingdom, where one could let go of all worries.

    And in the deepest part of the flower room, there was a high stage with curtains surrounding it, so it was impossible to see the scene inside.

    Fans sat down in an orderly manner, while the media set up their equipment and were conducting a live test —— This was requested by Su Jin’s studio.

    The media counterparts whispered under their breaths, and just as soon as a pair of eyes met, they guessed what the other party wanted to say.

    “Does Su Jin really have a stand in?”

    “I don’t think so, right?”

    “Anything can happen in the circle! There was also an actress who faked pregnancy and birth, but she actually looked for a surrogate!”

    “I think the evidence isn’t real enough. The tear mole doesn’t mean anything. When applying a thick foundation, not to mention the tear mole, even a birthmark can be smoothed out!”

    “But I heard that her father’s matter is true … several paparazzi were approached by her father.”

    “What’s her ‘crime’? Not supporting him?”

    “Yes, ah. His daughter is famous, so he wants to bite a piece of the meat.”

    “Say, Su Jin suddenly held a birthday party. What exactly does she want to announce?”

    “This battle … It can’t be about getting married, right?”

    The fans and media were concerned about things that the advertisers with VIP invitations didn’t care about —— They only cared about ‘money’. Whether Su Jin was the real one or fake, as long as she generated money, she was a good Su Jin! If one day Su Jin’s reputation soured, and the advertisers couldn’t recover the money they spent on her, then Su Jin’s existence would be meaningless.

    In the audience, a dark tide was surging. Everyone was looking at the stage, expecting Su Jin’s arrival.

    As the sun set, the night enveloped the land. Sitting in the glass flower room, one could clearly see the sun sinking below the horizon. Nobody knew when or where the fog appeared, but the mist faintly rising made the flower garden look like a fairyland.

    Fans were surprised, and took out their cell phones to record this beautiful moment. The reporters also turned on their live streaming equipment to synchronize everything inside the venue to the internet.

    And at that moment, the curtain on the stage suddenly drew open, and the spotlight fell from the top.

    And right in the embrace of the spotlight, a white silhouette drifted in.

    —— It was Su Jin!!

    The design of today’s stage was especially chic. It was obviously a birthday party, but there was no host on the stage, only five connected mirrors of equal height.

    Five mirrors formed a screen in a semicircle around Su Jin’s side. Each mirror was her reflection.

    She wore a floor-length white muslin today, with a fluffy skirt and stars scattered on her skirt. It was like the reflection of the night sky overhead.

    And the moment she appeared, fans couldn’t help but shout out her name. It was their uncontrollable love, and they followed her footsteps like travelers at night chasing after a direction star.

    “Su Jin——!”

    “Su Jin——!!”

    “Jinjin!!! We love you!!!”

    This cheer and phrase represented unrepentant trust and endless love.

    The sound wave was higher than last. The soundproof effect of the flower room wasn’t too good. Hence, when many fans outside the venue, who did not have tickets and were reluctant to disperse for a long time, heard the cheering inside the flower room, they also followed suit and shouted Su Jin’s name.

    For a time, the whole garden was filled with continuous cheers inside and outside. These voices converged into a sea and lifted Su Jin up.

    On the stage, Su Jin held back her tears, raised her head and gazed at the pairs of eyes below the stage. In their eyes, she saw herself.

    “I …” Su Jin opened her mouth and said the first words of the birthday party.

    “Thank you all for coming to my birthday party.” Su Jin smiled, but there were tears in her eyes.

    “I’ve been in the industry for four and a half years, and today is the first time I’ve spent my birthday with you all. During these four years, you guys have given me endless strength. I had said before in an interview that the reason I chose the path of an entertainer wasn’t because I had ‘big stage dreams’. I just did it to raise money for my mother’s medical care.”

    “Compared to others, I want to become famous for reasons that are tainted with a lot of ‘brassiness’ and ‘utilitarianism’. I had thought that being a celebrity was just a job that made a lot of money. It was you guys who let me know that a real entertainer wasn’t just a title. This dazzling star journey isn’t only self-seeking dreams, but also an unexpected encounter.”

    “Before I entered this business, I was always the dreariest person in the crowd. I was introverted, uninteresting and terrible at expressing myself. It was your likes and support that made me who I am today.”

    “—— Sometimes I wonder, how can someone like me deserve so much love?”

    Speaking of the latter, Su Jin choked up.

    A huge live screen hung behind her. The camera zoomed in, and the tears in the girl’s eyes were clearly captured. But she kept smiling and held back her tears.

    Seeing her tears, countless fans stood up anxiously as they shouted, “Jinjin, don’t talk about yourself like that!!! You’re fine. You’re really fine!”

    Su Jin smiled at them and continued, “I want to grow and want to be worthy of your support. I want that when you walk outside and introduce your idol to others, you can straighten your backs and say loudly: ‘I like Su Jin! She’s an amazing artist. She acts well. Her variety shows are full of laughs. She’s passionate about public service, and she treats people kindly’! I’ve been so strict with myself that I dare not take a wrong step. I’m afraid that some people will point fingers at my fans and call you ‘stupid fans’.

    “I hope your love for me is out of sensible appreciation; and I can show the same amount of love back to you.”

    Speaking of this, Su Jin’s tears trickled out of her eyes. She could no longer restrain the guilt spreading within her heart, and her voice trembled as she spat out the words.

    “But … I’m sorry.” She hung her head, tears spilling like pearls. “I failed. I’m not a strong person, and when pressure weighed me down, I chose to run away.”

    Her words were like a kind of foreshadowing, and the silence in the flower room couldn’t be anymore obvious. It was as if even the sound of butterflies flapping their wings was loudly audible.

    The five equal mirrors behind Su Jin seemed to foreshadow her broken heart. The five mirrors reflected the backs of five different directions, and when Su Jin trembled, the mirror broke her heart along with her.

    A vague sense of unease spread in everyone’s heart: investors sat upright, wrinkling their brows and listening; the media zoomed in their cameras and took up pen and paper; and fans, whose hearts were full of Su Jin, exchanged uneasy glances, like a group of swaying grass; outside the venue, everyone gathered in front of the live camera, tilting their heads and waiting with bated breath for the upcoming verdict.

    Su Jin slowly, word by word, spat out the next sentence.

    She was under immense pressure, as if she was swimming against the tide with her own strength.

    “I am Su Jin——but Su Jin is more than just me.”

    At the very second her words fell, the mirrors behind her suddenly shattered at the same time!

    A large piece of broken mirror came off the frame and fell to the ground, causing shatters. But Su Jin didn’t even blink. Her figure, wrapped in a white dress, remained straight and upright.

    Along with the shattering of the mirror, the reflections behind her also disappeared ——

    —— No! Wait! The reflection that was facing Su Jin’s back didn’t disappear!

    It was still there —— the Su Jin in the mirror remained!

    Or rather, that was another Su Jin!

    Everyone in the room was stunned by this unexpected development. They looked at the stage in disbelief, suspecting that they were having a lustrous and dazzling dream in dreamland.

    But the dream eventually became reality, and the Su Jin in the mirror slowly turned around.

    That ‘Su Jin’ was also wearing the same white gown and had the same delicate face.

    She lifted the hem of her skirt and stepped out of the frame with determination and boldness.

    The moment she stepped out of the frame, her white dress changed to black. One black and one white dress echoed each other, just like the inseparable day and night. They were also the deepest sea and the shallowest stream, eventually coming together.

    “Hello, everyone. Allow me to explain to you.” The black-dressed girl’s eyes fell off the stage, as if she was looking at everyone, but also as if she wasn’t looking at anyone. “You guys are looking at me correctly. The person beside me is your Su Jin.”

    She paused and smiled lightly.

    “-—— It just so happens that I am also your Su Jin.”