Because of Iris Long's involvement in the international business conference, it unexpectedly gained huge attention from the general public. Most of the general folks usually didn't care about business events like this, but now they wanted to know more about it.
It pleased the Ministry of Commerce greatly, prompting them to use Iris Long's image more in promoting the international business conference across the country. Of course, Bright Summit was more than happy to cooperate.
Iris also didn't mind. In fact, she welcomed it. This opportunity would be helpful for the development of her own businesses later on.
Due to the increased attention, all the delegates became extra careful in how they conducted themselves. The Chinese delegates also went all out during their presentations, wanting to impress everyone. It wasn't only them who were feeling the pressure to perform their best. The foreign delegates also gave their A-game. Everyone suddenly became more enthusiastic in attracting the best deals and partnerships during this international business conference.
Iris Long was also now known throughout the nation as a talented polyglot.
On the first day of the international business conference, she demonstrated her English and French language skills. On the second day, her Malay and Japanese skills.
Now people were looking forward to what other languages she would interpret next during this five-day long business event. There were even betting pools set up across the country. They wagered on which other languages she would most likely interpret next or if the languages she demonstrated on the first and second days were already the limit to her skills.
They weren't disappointed.
On the third day, she interpreted in Greek and Korean. On the fourth day, Dutch and Hausa (an African language). And on the last day, Thai and Spanish.
So far, they now confirmed that she was skilled in ten languages in addition to Mandarin. Eleven languages in total. Make that twelve because some also remembered when she spoke Italian with Maestro Ludovico De Luca during her interview with Feng Jiu. So they knew that she could also speak in Italian.
Then some former classmates of Iris Long began voicing out their doubts. They were even interviewed and featured on several TV programs and newspapers.
"I'm finding it hard to believe that Iris Long suddenly became so smart. Although she didn't have the worst grades at school, she wasn't a good student either. She was frequently absent because of her showbiz work, but whenever she attended school, she almost always flunked our tests. It became normal for her to redo everything."
Then her previous school transcripts from middle school to high school were leaked by the media. All of her grades, except for Music, were ludicrously low.
It came to a point that her former school teachers and even principal were sought out for interviews.
"I'm retired now, so I think I'm free to say this. Miss Long was one of the most problematic students that I've ever experienced teaching in my entire career as a teacher. She never listened to me and had poor comprehension of our lessons. It also didn't help that she rarely went to school. I was so relieved when she graduated, although I'm still very confused as to how she managed to do that," her former Math teacher revealed.
"Miss Long had passable English when I taught her. Coming from a privileged family, she could speak English but nothing very impressive. Her grammar was also horrendous. She certainly didn't have the British accent she demonstrated during this year's international business conference. When I watched her interpreting in English at the conference on TV, I was so shocked. But I think that this is a good thing. Maybe my teachings from before finally sank in and she improved her English," her former English teacher said.
"As a principal, I am immensely proud to watch such a talented former student of my school become so successful. Although I admit that she got into trouble quite a few times—alright, many times—it's because I'm positive that she was in her rebellious phase that time. It's very typical for teenagers to rebel at her age back then," her former principal said.
These interviews plus Iris' unimpressive school transcripts puzzled a lot of people. They wondered why Iris suddenly changed so much. Many also remembered her previous notorious bratty, bitchy and diva-like attitude as a teenage pop singer.
Netizens widely discussed this matter online.
"If that's really what happened, then maybe I should hit my head too. Will I become a genius too if I do that? I want to speak many languages like Iris Long too. So cool, man!"
"I've watched some documentaries before about comatose people waking up and then suddenly gaining the ability to speak many foreign languages. I don't know if that's what happened to Iris. But if so, then it's a medical miracle!"
TV programs became very interested in this topic. They even invited "experts" to discuss Iris' situation. There were psychologists, neurologists and a lot of other -ists who shared their "expert" opinions.
"Based on what we publicly know about Iris Long, she has a rather strong personality and had quite a turbulent childhood. It's well-known that her parents divorced when she was just a small child. She had also mentioned before that her parents weren't in good terms with each other. It's highly likely that Iris Long was already a born genius but because of her family situation and her own selfish attitude, she began rebelling to gain more attention and love from her parents. In this case, her rebellion was her form of defence mechanism in dealing with her family situation. Her rebellion masked her genius," a guest psychologist analyzed.
"So what you're saying is that Iris Long deliberately failed at school and pretended to be an idiot—please excuse my language—when she's really a genius just to get the attention of her parents? Isn't that too extreme?" the host asked.
"Yes, it is indeed extreme but it's actually very common among children of divorced parents. And we also need to take into account that the Longs are a wealthy family. Her father is the head of both the family and their business. I don't personally know Iris Long's parents, but I'm guessing that they were too busy with their own matters and careers to pay close attention to their daughter Iris Long. I'm guessing that even they had no idea that their own daughter is actually a born genius. I think it's quite sad, really."
The host nodded. "Then what could've prompted Iris Long to finally reveal that she's a genius all along? Can you explain it to us?"
"We all know that she got involved in that serious car accident—well, we shouldn't really call it an accident anymore because it had been already confirmed that it was attempted murder. That incident almost killed her, sending her into coma. Near-death experiences like that can really change people. After waking up from coma, I'm certain that she realized that life is precious so she began changing for the better. She stopped her rebellious attitude and behaviour, and is now finally beginning to embrace her real genius."