Chapter 43: Rising Fame in America, China's New Generation of Prodigies

Seeing David's smug expression, everyone around cast envious glances. Listening to him continue to brag, sparks of jealousy flashed in their eyes. Especially the fund manager who had never really gotten along with David—his face was twisted with envy, which made David feel immensely satisfied.

Yan Fei remained entirely oblivious to the throngs discussing him. Under Mister's introduction, he began meeting a host of Wall Street titans. Listening to these legendary figures whom he had previously only seen online now chatting and shaking hands with him face-to-face left Yan Fei deeply thrilled.

Mister was quite pleased with Yan Fei's modest yet confident and poised demeanor, and he said with a smile, "Yan, this gentleman beside me is a Wall Street titan who made over three billion US dollars during the subprime mortgage crisis and rose to fame in a single battle—Kors. Let's introduce yourselves."

Yan Fei immediately raised his glass and said with great excitement, "Hello, Kors! Your keen intuition and decisive execution during the subprime mortgage crisis were brilliantly executed. You descended like a deity, and I look up to you with absolute admiration!"

Hearing Yan Fei bring up his crowning achievement, Kors was extremely pleased. He raised his glass and laughed, "Yan, you are extraordinary as well! Achieving nearly twentyfold returns in a single year is exceptionally rare even in the entire history of Wall Street. You can truly be called the greatest trading genius of our time."

People help each other carry the sedan chair; foreigners are equally well-versed in social tact. While praising others, they also praise themselves, generating a form of empathy that exists only among the strong. This is the difference between the culture of the strong and the golden mean of modesty.

After introducing Kors, Mister turned to introduce the person on his right: "This is Palaul, a senior fund manager at Vanguard, controlling over ten billion US dollars in wealth—a well-deserved titan of Wall Street."

Yan Fei looked at the graceful and luxurious middle-aged woman, shook her hand like a true gentleman, and smiled, "Hello, Ms. Palaul. Your beauty and wisdom are like the Goddess of Wisdom descending to earth, making the lights of this venue pale in comparison."

Palaul gave a faint smile and said quite happily, "Yan, you are truly remarkable. When Mister first told me about you, I simply couldn't believe that such a trading genius could emerge from that Eastern powerhouse. Now that I see you, I believe it. Perhaps that Eastern nation possesses mysterious forces beyond my knowledge."

Hearing this, Yan Fei smiled slightly and replied, "Ms. Palaul, you are quite right. China has a brilliant history and civilization spanning five thousand years. It is the only continuous civilization in the world, and it truly holds many treasures of humanity. You really should take some time to visit China. The magnificent mountains and rivers, the brilliant and colorful cultures of its many ethnic groups, and the wonderfully diverse and unprecedented cuisines will leave you lingering and reluctant to leave."

The dozen or so Wall Street titans at the main table listened as Yan Fei introduced China, their eyes filled with yearning. Their former prejudices slowly dissipated, and a harmonious, friendly atmosphere rose in the air.

Following Mister's introductions, Yan Fei skillfully moved among the various heavyweights, energizing the atmosphere in the capacity of a junior in the financial world while exchanging contact information with many of them.

Soon, it was ten o'clock in the morning, and the annual meeting officially commenced. Mister delivered the opening speech, reviewing the company's development over the past year and thanking clients for their wholehearted support. During the speech, he specifically mentioned Yan Fei, making him once again the focal point of the entire venue and sparking widespread curiosity and speculation.

After Mister's speech, Kors and Palaul successively took the stage. Their wonderful and substantive sharing captivated everyone present, and Yan Fei also felt he had gained a great deal.

Once the speeches by the heavyweights concluded, the host enthusiastically shouted into the microphone, "Next, please welcome someone from the mysterious Eastern powerhouse—a peerless trading genius, the legendary myth who achieved a twentyfold return in a single year. Every single one of his trades feels like the arrival of a divine presence, with precise entry and exit points and supreme trading skills that force us to believe a genius beyond mortal comprehension exists in this world. He is Mr. Yan Fei from China!"

Amidst the gaze of countless attendees, Yan Fei stood up and waved to the guests. After taking the stage, he bowed deeply and began to speak: "Ladies and gentlemen, in my view, the essence of trading is simply buying low and selling high. Everything you do must revolve around this core principle, whether you are playing short-term or medium-to-long-term strategies—the logic remains identical. As for industry trends, company fundamentals, and future development, countless predecessors have already shared insights on those, so I won't belabor them. Today, what I want to discuss is the most core characteristic of trading: the wave band. Any financial product—be it stocks, futures, exchange rates, options, and so on—possesses the characteristics of wave bands. Short-term players look at daily wave bands, medium-term players look at weekly wave bands, and long-term players look at monthly wave bands. Different wave bands tell us when they reach peaks and when they hit troughs..."

Countless guests listened to Yan Fei's speech with gleaming eyes, some hastily pulling out notebooks to record his words. At that moment, every guest listened attentively, including Mister, Palaul, and all the other financial giants.

At the entrance of the banquet hall, numerous reporters documented the progress of the event, synthesizing it into news reports to be sent back to their respective companies. Among them was Zhang Bi, a reporter from Phoenix New Media. The moment he saw Yan Fei take a seat at the primary table, his eyes filled with shock as he diligently recorded every detail of the banquet.

As soon as the banquet concluded, Zhang Bi transmitted his notes back to Phoenix New Media, which quickly compiled and published a news report: "An up-and-coming Chinese trading genius appears at the annual meeting of America's seventh-largest securities firm, lecturing a group of Wall Street heavyweights. Below are the detailed reports."

With the circulation of the Phoenix New Media report, countless domestic internet platforms began republishing the story. Leaders at Xinhua News Agency accidentally came across the report and read how Yan Fei had expounded upon Chinese culture and China's beauty and harmony to the Wall Street elite, causing those heavyweights to alter their views of China and express desires to visit. They felt an immense sense of satisfaction, and their favorable impression of Yan Fei deepened further.

Summoning his subordinates, the leader instructed, "Go and investigate this Yan Fei. I've seen quite a few internet platforms reporting on this. If there are no issues, we should join in on the coverage."

Very soon, the information regarding Yan Fei was verified. Upon reviewing the details, the leader immediately felt he embodied the new generation of China and instructed Xinhua News Agency to join the coverage, promoting Yan Fei as a typical exemplar of China's trading genius.

Following the entry of Xinhua News Agency into the fray, countless onlookers and netizens grew instantly excited, flocking to the official Xinhua News Agency report to leave comments expressing their excitement and admiration.

A netizen with the ID "Great China" posted: "As expected of the strongest new-generation trading genius, and so patriotic too! Promoting Chinese culture at a foreign annual meeting—truly a role model for our generation."

A netizen named "None of My Business" wrote: "Too powerful! I'd never even heard of him before. No wonder I'm just a retail investor. Charging into the international financial markets with twenty million in principal and multiplying it twenty times in a year—simply terrifying!"

A netizen called "Blah Blah Blah" commented: "The strongest new-generation prodigy should dominate the present era and suppress contemporaries. Congratulations to our Great China for producing another prodigy—making money off foreigners and investing back home to boost domestic employment."

Another netizen, whose ID was "Dazhong Dianping Zhang Tao," posted below: "Rest assured, everyone, Mr. Yan has already invested domestically. Our Dazhong Dianping secured forty million US dollars in investment from Mr. Yan, which has greatly promoted the development of the group-buying and takeout industries."

In a flash, a netizen replied beneath Zhang Tao's post: "Holy crap, could this actually be the big boss Zhang Tao in the flesh? Let me touch the digital robe of a titan."

"It really is Zhang Tao himself!" another netizen wrote. "I just saw Mr. Zhang repost this report using both his official Dazhong Dianping account and his personal account."

As more and more netizens joined in, Dazhong Dianping experienced a massive surge in popularity as well. At that moment, countless retail investors in the financial world and curious netizens poured into major platforms to participate in the discussion.

Noticing the massive influx of traffic, Tencent Technology reacted swiftly, excitedly pushing their own boss onto the Moments feed so that over fifteen million WeChat users could view the information firsthand and join the discussion.

Momo Technology followed closely behind, frantically pushing the monumental achievements of its own founder to ride the wave of this traffic frenzy. Weibo and several other internet platforms also followed up with prominent promotions, pinning the topic to the top of Weibo's trending searches while other platforms gave it prime placement.

At that moment, the image of Yan Fei cutting a brilliant figure among financial titans on Wall Street was etched into the minds of countless netizens, sparking their curiosity and driving them to dig deeper and deeper.

The only entity that abstained from this traffic feast was Penguin, primarily because the executives who wanted to participate were severely chewed out by Ma Huateng. Sitting in his boss's chair, Ma Huateng thought of the billion lost due to Yan Fei's schemes and the meteoric rise of WeChat Technology, filling his heart with complex emotions.

Sharing similarly complex emotions was Shen Qianyun. Seeing Yan Fei command the room so effortlessly in the reports and listening to the accounts of his achievements, he never expected that this young man who had come to him alone seeking cooperation would grow so rapidly. Remembering his past actions of cutting the bridge after crossing the river, a trace of regret welled up inside him.

In a residential community in Shanghai, Li Ruxue, who had just returned from work, opened her QQ group. As usual, she hoped to catch some gossip about Yan Fei from her classmates when suddenly a video was shared in the chat.

Tapping on it, Li Ruxue saw Yan Fei lecturing amidst a group of foreigners who were listening as attentively as elementary school students. Among those foreigners were many Wall Street heavyweights she had previously seen online, filling her with utter shock.

Scrolling through the chat history, Li Ruxue quickly grasped the whole sequence of events. Overwhelmed by a surge of excitement, she felt as though she had reached a peak of emotional ecstasy, softly chanting Yan Fei's name to herself.

In the United States, at the Trump Hotel, Yan Fei woke up from his slumber. This was his third day in America, and he had already adjusted to the jet lag. Today was also the day he had an appointment with LeBron.

Shortly after finishing breakfast, LeBron arrived. Seeing Yan Fei, LeBron laughed heartily and said, "Yan, my friend, I watched the ABC report last night. You were truly amazing! After listening to your speech, I benefited immensely and felt like I could go out and conquer the stock market."

Hearing this, Yan Fei laughed out loud and replied, "Dear LeBron, you have great comprehension. Keep it up, find the wave rhythm that suits you, and then strictly adhere to it. I guarantee you will make steady profits in the stock market without a single loss."

"That's wonderful! Thank you, Yan!" LeBron said happily. "With your affirmation, I have even more confidence. I'm going to carve your words onto my desk as my guiding motto."

Chatting and laughing, the two drove to the entrance of an eighteen-story building on Wall Street. LeBron explained, "Yan, this location is on the edge of Wall Street, close to the core financial district, yet the rent is quite reasonable and offers great value. Following your requirements, I rented five hundred square meters of space under the name of our newly registered company, Popular Sentiment."

"Not bad, I'm very satisfied!" Yan Fei said with a smile. "Thank you, LeBron. Let's go inside!"

Taking the elevator upstairs, Yan Fei inspected the office space and found that all kinds of office facilities were fully arranged, ready for employees to move in and start working immediately.

Seeing that Yan Fei was pleased, LeBron immediately added, "My friend Yan, the office facilities were provided by the property management company, but I added some computers and other equipment, all brand new. Here are the transaction receipts given to me by the sellers, along with my transfer records."

Yan Fei glanced at them, realizing that LeBron had no intention of making a single cent off him. He patted LeBron on the shoulder and smiled, "LeBron, if we are still friends, don't do this. I'll give you a 10% gross profit share; I can't let you work for free. No refusals allowed. I still need you to help me find a headhunting firm."

Hearing Yan Fei's words, LeBron felt deeply touched. He nodded solemnly and said in a deep voice, "Thank you, Yan. You are a man of integrity, and I will definitely help you secure the headhunting firm's services at the best possible price."

Yan Fei nodded and dispatched LeBron to handle the task. Afterward, he sat alone in the chairman's office, connected to the internet, and began executing financial trades while contemplating the future development plan for the American company "Popular Sentiment."

In the afternoon, LeBron returned accompanied representatives from a headhunting firm. Yan Fei spent an hour finalizing the details of the cooperation, entrusting the headhunting agency with the full responsibility of sourcing the traders and investment advisors needed for the company.

Time flew by, and two days passed. During these two days, aside from brief intervals spent executing trades, Yan Fei spent the rest of his time accompanying Chen Han around New York. On one hand, he was fulfilling promises he had made to her repeatedly; on the other, he was experiencing the local flair of New York and meeting various financial elites in the city.

Backed by Mister's public introductions, Yan Fei had built a certain renown within New York's financial circles, becoming a guest of honor at many fund companies and earning receptions and welcomes from numerous prominent figures.

After two days of close companionship, Chen Han felt extremely satisfied with Yan Fei. The aura of a supreme player effortlessly ingrained in his bones made Chen Han feel remarkably comfortable. In particular, Yan Fei's wit, humor, youthful success, and wealth that placed him among the titans exercised an irresistible magnetic pull on her, naturally drawing her closer and making her yearn for something more to happen between them.