48: Chapter 48 Stock Account Opening

Early the next morning, Chen Fan arrived at the county bus station.

He then found the bus bound for Xian among the many coaches.

Not long after he boarded, passengers began to trickle into the bus.

Once the bus was nearly full, the conductor began selling tickets. She walked from the front to the back, holding a stack of tickets, calling out, "Tickets, tickets, 35 to Xian."

Chen Fan pulled out the money and handed it over, and the conductor tore off a ticket for him.

"It takes an hour and a half to arrive," she said.

Chen Fan nodded and tucked the ticket away.

The bus engine started, and it slowly pulled out of the station.

The streetscape of the county town slowly receded outside the window—familiar streets, familiar shops, familiar crowds.

Chen Fan leaned back against the seat and looked out the window.

The bus merged onto the highway, and fields and villages flashed past the window.

Sunlight streamed through the glass, warming him comfortably.

After an hour and a half on the road, the bus finally arrived at the Chang'an West Bus Station.

Emerging from the bus station, Chen Fan looked at this city that felt both familiar and somewhat strange.

Compared to what it would be in over a decade, the current Chang'an didn't quite resemble the one in his memories.

There weren't as many high-rises, overpasses, or endless streams of traffic.

In the distance, he could see construction sites with tower cranes standing tall.

Standing at the entrance of the bus station, Chen Fan felt a bit lost.

Before coming, he had already decided on the securities firm to open an account with—the Guosen Securities Xian Youyi East Road branch—but he didn't know which bus to take to get there.

In this day and age, there was no Didi, no Amap, and no Baidu.

Getting to a specific place really wasn't easy.

Just then, a taxi pulled up in front of Chen Fan.

Seeing the taxi, his eyes lit up; he didn't know the way, but these taxi drivers surely would.

How could he have forgotten about that?

It was just the force of habit from his past life acting up.

The taxi window rolled down, revealing the face of a man in his thirties.

"Young man, need a ride?"

With a standard local accent, this was the typical Chang'an taxi driver—when they saw you, they first asked if you needed a ride, regardless of where you were going.

"Can you take me to Guosen Securities?"

"Roughly which area is it in?"

"Youyi East Road, Fanmei Building."

"Alright, get in."

After getting in, the driver's restless mouth began to work.

"Young man, are you going to that securities firm to trade stocks?"

"No, I'm just looking for someone near there."

"Oh~ is this your first time in Xian?"

Chen Fan felt a bit helpless; why were all these drivers so talkative? Couldn't they just drive properly?

He gave a few casual, perfunctory replies.

The driver noticed he didn't want to chat, but he didn't mind and continued on his own:

"If it's your first time, you really should look around. The Bell Tower, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda—they're all worth visiting. But it's hot right now, so it's miserable to walk around. Wait until it cools down in the afternoon to go out..."

Chen Fan leaned back against the seat, occasionally saying "Mm" to show he was listening.

The driver didn't mind his lack of response and kept chattering the whole way about which roads were under construction, which intersections were prone to traffic jams, and which noodle shops were good.

As Chen Fan listened, he actually started to find it somewhat interesting.

This was the classic Chang'an taxi driver—regardless of whether you responded, they could talk for the entire trip.

Twenty minutes later, the car stopped in front of a building.

"We're here. Number 1 Youyi East Road, Fanmei Building."

Chen Fan paid the fare and got out.

He looked up—the Guosen Securities sign was hanging next to the building's entrance.

Walking into the branch, a wave of cool air hit him.

There weren't too many people in the lobby. A few middle-aged men stood in front of self-service market data terminals, and the big screen on the wall was flickering with red and green. Chen Fan glanced over and walked straight to the counter marked "Account Opening."

The teller was a young woman in her twenties with a pretty face, wearing a dark blue uniform and looking down at her phone. Hearing footsteps, she looked up—

Her eyes noticeably brightened.

Chen Fan met her gaze, didn't think much of it, and stood at the counter: "I want to open an account."

The young woman paused, her gaze lingering on his face for an extra second before she realized what was happening and lowered her head to grab the forms as if to cover it up.

"Did you bring your ID card?" she asked.

Chen Fan handed it over.

The young woman took it, glanced at it, and then looked him up and down—he looked about eighteen or nineteen, tall and well-built, with sharp facial features, wearing a simple white T-shirt and black casual pants, looking clean and neat.

A flash of surprise crossed her eyes, as if she hadn't expected such a young, handsome man to be opening an account.

"You... are opening an account?" she asked again subconsciously.

Chen Fan nodded: "Yes."

The young woman finally snapped back to reality and lowered her head to operate the computer, but she couldn't help but steal glances at his face.

"The Shanghai account is 40, the Shenzhen account is 50, making it 90 in total." She paused, then added, "The capital account is free to open."

Chen Fan counted out 90 yuan from his wallet and handed it over.

The young woman took the money and handed him a few forms: "Fill these out—personal information, contact details, emergency contact..."

Chen Fan took the pen and leaned against the counter to start filling them out.

The young woman waited nearby, her gaze uncontrollably drifting toward him—this height, this profile, these hands... even his handwriting was good-looking.

When filling in the "Occupation" column, Chen Fan wrote "Student."

When filling in the "Annual Income" column, he thought for a moment and wrote "100,000."

The young woman took the completed forms, glanced at them, and looked up at him again, her eyes showing a hint of surprise—a student with an annual income of 100,000? Was this pocket money from his family or...

But she didn't ask further and continued working on the computer.

"Please leave your mobile number; the trading password will be sent via SMS."

Chen Fan provided his mobile number.

A few minutes later, the young woman handed him two shareholder cards—one for Shanghai and one for Shenzhen—along with a third-party depository agreement.

After opening the account, Chen Fan didn't linger and left the securities firm immediately.

Once out of the securities firm, for a moment, Chen Fan actually didn't know where to go.

After thinking about it, Chen Fan decided to go look at cars first.

Buying a car had always been his intention.

Although he didn't have his driver's license yet, he could still go and take a look.

The car Chen Fan wanted to buy was a porsche cayenne.

However, luxury cars usually weren't available in stock and had to be pre-ordered.

So, Chen Fan planned to go to the 4S dealership first; if the timing was right, he would just go ahead and place an order.

He hailed a taxi and told the driver to go to the Porsche 4S dealership.

Fortunately, this time, the driver was the quiet type and drove straight to Chen Fan's destination.

Twenty minutes later, the car stopped in front of the Porsche 4S dealership.

Chen Fan paid the 16 yuan fare and got out, walking toward the dealership.

If the Chen Fan from before his rebirth had walked into a 4S dealership of such a luxury car brand, he definitely would have felt insecure.

But the current Chen Fan had over nine million in his bank account and was full of confidence.