After the Nasdaq opening bell rang, Wen Ruan did not stop moving immediately.
As she left the ceremony venue, CNBC cameras were already set up in the studio next door, waiting for her.
What followed were profile interviews with financial media from China and abroad.
She sat in the Nasdaq MarketSite studio, accompanied by the investment bank and PR teams, speaking continuously from nine thirty in the morning until two in the afternoon.
After that came video calls with employees around the world.
The Imperial Capital headquarters, the Shencheng office, the Guangzhou branch, the Los Angeles team, the Southeast Asia distribution center...
One screen after another lit up in the conference room.
That evening was Xingyun International's small celebration banquet.
It was held in the ballroom of an old-established Manhattan hotel.
Investment bank representatives, law firm partners, audit teams, Xingyun executives, and overseas fund representatives all attended.
The champagne tower glimmered gold beneath the crystal chandeliers.
Waiters carrying silver trays moved through the crowd.
The air was filled with the scents of alcohol and perfume, along with Wall Street-style flattery.
Photos, toasts, pleasantries.
Everyone who approached Wen Ruan offered their congratulations in the most solemn manner.
Some said she was the true soul of the IPO.
Others said she had made all her peers rethink the words "Eastern media professional."
As the chairwoman of Xingyun International Group, Wen Ruan, who had just completed the listing, received unprecedented adulation that night.
Yet throughout the evening, she barely drank any of the champagne in her glass.
By the time everyone had departed and she returned to the hotel where she was staying, New York was already deep into the night.
Manhattan's nightscape spread across the glass—the neon lights, the traffic, the lights of skyscrapers—like a slowly flowing river.
The lights in the