Soul Returns to Hong Kong: From Tailor Shop to Richest Woman

In July, the sweltering heat of Hong Kong arrived as expected.

The air conditioning was blasting in the fifteenth-floor room of Taikoo Shing.

The final report card for the second year of junior high school at Boya Academy arrived at home; Lin Lanying looked at the long row of glaring A grades on the report card, but she was already used to it and simply put it in the drawer.

The real big event in our family today is the release of the results of the middle school placement process.

At noon, the living room door was pushed open. He Dazhu led Lin Qian and Lin Yue in, holding two allocation slips in his hands.

"I got in! I got in!" Lin Qian jumped up and down excitedly in the living room. "I got into the all-English boys' school in Wan Chai!"

Lin Yue excitedly exclaimed, "Big sister, I've been assigned to Boya Academy too!"

Lin Ying was sitting at the dining table drinking water when she heard this, so she put down her cup: "You got in? Let me see."

Lin Ying took the two placement slips, glanced at them, and chuckled, "Lin Qian, with your score, you really got in right at the very bottom of the admission line. You're a complete loser."

"So what if I'm at the bottom of the class? Being at the bottom still means I'm in!" Lin Qian said confidently. "From today onwards, I can wear that coolest boys' school uniform in all of Wan Chai!"

Lin Ying turned to Lin Yue: "You too, you only scored five points above Boya's minimum admission score."

The two younger ones chattered away, holding their placement slips, completely unconcerned about being at the bottom of the class; as long as they could get in, even being last would be a victory.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the doorbell rang.

Lin Lanying went to open the door; outside, Lin Yaoying was covered in sweat, carrying two woven bags in her hands and a bedding roll on her back.

"Big sister! Quick, lend a hand!" Lin Yaoying stuffed all the things into the doorway.

Lin Lanying was startled: "Yaoying, what are you doing? Moving house?"

"It's just moving." Lin Yaoying wiped his sweat, walked to the living room, and collapsed onto the sofa. "Ah Yue got into Liberal Arts College, and Fortress Hill is just too far from Mong Kok! Ah Hui and I are really worried about letting her squeeze onto the bus and subway every day to go to school across districts. For the next six or seven years, she'll be living in your guest room!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Lanying immediately turned around to help pack the luggage: "This is no big deal. Yueyue is staying here, which will keep Ah Qian company. You can focus on opening your shop in Mong Kok. You can rest assured that you have her in my care."

Lin Yaoying looked at his eldest sister and smiled very comfortably. He knew what his eldest sister's family was like now, and his niece Lin Ying was even more reliable. Keeping his daughter here was a hundred times better than keeping her by his side.

Lin Yaoying didn't even have time to drink much water. He left two thousand dollars for living expenses and hurriedly went back to the barbershop in Mong Kok.

Lin Yue has officially become a permanent resident of Taikoo City.

After dinner, Lin Qian and Lin Yue sat on the sofa watching TV and discussing where to relax the next day.

"Smack."

Two thick exercise books were placed on the coffee table.

Lin Ying twirled a red pen in her hand and pulled up a chair to sit opposite the two of them.

"Stop watching, turn off the TV."

Lin Qian was stunned: "Big sister, we've already passed the middle school placement exam, why are we still doing practice questions?"

"You've only passed the entrance exam; there's still the freshman placement exam in a couple of days." Lin Ying looked at them. "It's not shameful to be at the bottom of the class when you get into school, but if you get relegated to the lower-achieving class in the placement exam, then you've really wasted your time! Especially at Boya Academy, the requirements for Class 1 and the regular classes are completely different worlds."

Lin Ying pushed a workbook in front of Lin Yue: "I'm very familiar with the question types from Boya. I've highlighted the key points for you. Do three practice papers tonight."

Looking at the dense English text, Lin Yue's joy at having just entered high school vanished instantly.

Lin Qian struggled to speak, "Then I..."

"That boys' school in Wan Chai emphasizes math, physics, and chemistry the most. Finish this half of the algebra book tonight," Lin Ying said, pointing to another book.

Soon, the sounds of two children turning pages and wailing filled the living room.

Lin Ying sat to the side, reading and supervising, while glancing around.

The apartment in Taikoo Shing wasn't large to begin with, and now with Lin Yue's luggage piled up in the guest room, the coffee table in the living room covered with exam papers, plus her own room's bulky computer and mountain of printing paper, the whole place visibly felt cramped.

Lin Ying closed the book, stood up, and walked towards the kitchen.

Lin Lanying and He Dazhu were cutting fruit in the kitchen.

"Mommy, Daddy," Lin Ying said directly, "I want to move to a bigger house."

He Dazhu stopped cutting the melon: "Change rooms? Aren't you happy with your current place?"

"It's too cramped," Lin Ying said matter-of-factly. "Qian and Yueyue are getting older and will need their own quiet place to do their homework. My scripts, materials, and computer are piling up everywhere; we should move to a large duplex like Uncle Su's."

Lin Lanying wiped her hands, feeling a little distressed: "A large duplex? How much would that cost? You just used so much cash to buy a property and collect rent. Although we still have money, we can't be so extravagant."

"I earn money so that my whole family can live a better life." Lin Ying's thoughts were clear. "The dividends from the 'Heart Exchange Agreement' will arrive soon. Once the records on the clan's side are opened, the money on my side will only increase, not decrease. Buying a comfortable house for ourselves, no matter how you look at it, it's a win-win situation."

Hearing her daughter say this, Lin Lanying nodded. Her daughter was right. Money is inanimate, but people are alive. Now that the whole family is crammed together, it is indeed unfair to Aying.

"Okay!" Lin Lanying decided. "Tomorrow's the weekend, let's all go look at apartments!"

The next morning, at the sales office of "Silver Cypress Pavilion" in Phase VI of Taikoo Shing.

This is the first phase of Taikoo Shing's newly launched residential project, featuring high-end amenities and full sea views.

As soon as the Lin family of five entered the door, they were greeted warmly by the saleswoman.

"What kind of unit are you interested in, sir and madam? Our high-rise apartments have excellent sea views." The saleswoman eagerly handed over the floor plans.

Lin Ying sat down on the sofa and asked, "Do you have any duplex apartments around 2,000 square feet?"

The saleswoman smiled apologetically: "Miss, there are very few duplex apartments in the East District; even if there are a few, they have long been taken by the developer's internal shareholders and will never be put on public sale."

"So, which type is the largest currently available for sale?"

"The largest unit is 1029 square feet, with four bedrooms and two living rooms. There are only four units per floor, so it's quiet and spacious." The saleswoman pointed to a high-rise building on the model. "The high-rises have unobstructed views. Currently, the 19th floor is the main high-rise, and there are still three units (A, B, and C) on the 19th floor."

Lin Ying looked down at the floor plan on the table, her gaze sweeping over the 19th floor.

"What are the orientations of rooms A and B on the 19th floor?" Lin Ying asked.

"Unit A faces due south and slightly east, so it gets the best morning sunlight; Unit B faces southwest, so it gets amazing afternoon light," the saleswoman answered truthfully.

"Is the wall between these two houses a non-load-bearing wall?" Lin Ying pointed to the adjacent area between the two houses on the blueprint.

The saleswoman glanced at it and said, "Yes, this is a partition wall; it's not load-bearing."

"Okay." Lin Ying closed the blueprints. "I'll take both apartments, A and B, on the 19th floor."

Before the saleswoman could react, she thought, "So fast?"

Even Lin Lanying and He Dazhu were stunned.

"Ah Ying, buy two sets and connect them?!" Lin Lanying felt like there was something wrong with her ears.

"Since we can't buy a duplex, we'll build a large single-level apartment ourselves." Lin Ying had calculated it very clearly. "Two 1029-square-foot apartments together, after deducting the common areas, the actual usable area is estimated to be around 170 square meters. In Hong Kong, that's definitely a top-tier luxury home."

Lin Ying turned to the saleswoman and asked, "Could you please calculate the total price? How much is it?"

The saleswoman mechanically announced: "Unit A on the 19th floor is 116 million, and Unit B is 114 million; the total for both units is 2.3 million Hong Kong dollars."

He Dazhu's legs went weak. Two million three hundred thousand!

Lin Ying looked directly at her mother: "Mommy, write a check."

Lin Lanying's hands trembled slightly as she took out her checkbook from her handbag, quickly wrote down the numbers, checked them twice, stamped it, and handed it over.

The house purchase procedures were completed quickly; in less than two hours, the contracts for the two large apartments on the 19th floor were signed under the names of Lin Lanying and Lin Ying.

On the afternoon she received the key, Lin Ying went to the phone booth and made a phone call.

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Three days later, on the fifteenth floor of Taikoo Shing, designer Liang looked at the blueprints in front of him, then looked up at the Lin Ying family sitting opposite him.

"Mrs. Lam, Ah Ying," Designer Leung exclaimed, "I thought the HK$290,000 Ting Uk you built for me in the New Territories was already a generous gesture, but today you've dumped two large apartments in Taikoo Shing on me, and even want to combine them! A HK$2.3 million penthouse, I'm truly impressed!"

Lin Ying first made her request clear: "Mr. Liang, I need an extremely thorough luxury renovation."

"You tell me, I'll write it down." Designer Liang took out his notebook.

"The apartment is 170 square meters, and I want it to have five bedrooms, four bathrooms, plus a separate study and a storage room," Lin Ying explained clearly. "The study and storage room don't need to be too big; six square meters will be enough. But the remaining five rooms must be as large as possible!"

Designer Liang quickly divided the space on the drawings: "The two apartments are combined. Originally, there were two master bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms. We'll leave that as is, right?"

"We'll leave these two suites for my parents and my brother," Lin Ying continued. "I'll add a walk-in closet to my master bedroom, which will also connect to the bathroom; my sister will stay in the other two rooms, and we'll use the extra space as a storage room; with so many people in the family, storage has to be maximized."

As he listened, designer Liang quickly sketched out a floor plan.

In just half an hour, a well-planned layout of the large single-level apartment was completed.

"Ah Ying, with a brain like yours, you'd be a natural at architecture," designer Liang exclaimed.

Lin Lanying's biggest concern was the price: "Mr. Liang, we'll handle everything for you with these blueprints, all the best materials, including furniture and appliances. Give me a real price, how much do you want?"

Designer Liang calculated for a moment and quoted a figure: "Labor, imported tiles, solid wood flooring, a complete set of Western-style bathroom fixtures, plus major appliances; a flat price of HK$300,000, with refunds for overpayments and additional charges for underpayments, and absolutely no cutting corners."

Three hundred thousand; this amount would have been painful for Lin Lanying in the past, but after spending two million three hundred thousand on a building, the three hundred thousand for renovations seemed reasonable.

"Okay, 300,000!" Lin Lanying made the decision on the spot. "The first installment of 100,000 will be transferred to your account tomorrow, but I hope you can complete the project as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Lin!" Designer Liang assured her, "I'll personally oversee this big deal! Three months, and the whole family will be moving in!"