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

"Yes, Claire," Lin Ying answered quite frankly, "I did bring some money with me, and I plan to enter the British stock market."

Upon hearing this, Benjamin whistled: "Wow, Su Zhiming never told me that his niece is not only a math genius, but also a stockbroker who wants to make a name for herself in the City of London."

Claire didn't laugh. Instead, she said, "Ever since Mrs. Thatcher implemented the 'Big Bang' reforms last year, Wall Street capital and old European money have all been crowding into those few streets. I don't recommend that you, a seventeen-year-old foreign girl, enter the market now."

"So I didn't rush to open an account as soon as I landed." Lin Ying looked at her. "I came here primarily to learn math."

Claire raised her glass of red wine and gave Lin Ying a polite toast: "You're very sober."

"Since you asked my father to value you as a student, I'll give you some free career advice: keep your money safe in your bank account and get your enrollment paperwork done first; once you're familiar with the rules here, then you can look for brokers and agents."

"Thank you, Claire." Lin Ying raised the water glass beside her. "This suggestion is very valuable; I will take it."

Professor Smith, seeing the conversation veer off-topic, said, "Alright! No more talking about stocks and bonds today! Lynn is here to do academic research; she should be using her brain to think about the truth, not to calculate commissions of a few percentage points!"

Dinner ended in a pleasant atmosphere. Elaine specially packed a small box of cookies she had baked herself and put it in Lin Ying's bag, telling her that she could eat them if she got hungry while reading.

The night breeze was noticeably cool. Matthew drove Lin Ying back to her apartment building.

The two walked back to the third floor together. Matthew reached his room door, but instead of taking out his keys, he turned to look at Lin Ying.

"Starting tomorrow, I will officially begin my work at the Cavendish Laboratory; the project is very demanding, and I may not be able to return to my apartment here for two months, living and eating entirely in the lab."

Lin Ying was somewhat surprised: "A tradition of the physics department?"

"I guess so. A bunch of lunatics stayed up all night working on data from a few particle collisions. So, for the next period of time, you'll be living here alone. The security downstairs is on 24/7. I've already told them that if any stranger tries to come up to the third floor to find you, they must first verify their identity via the internal phone line. Use your brain too, and don't open the door until you've seen who's knocking."

Lin Ying knew he was worried about her, so she nodded in agreement: "Don't worry, I hired lawyer Vanessa precisely to deal with trouble, right?"

"Vanessa handles legal issues, but if someone gets drunk and goes berserk in the street, your contract won't protect you from a punch," Matthew sighed. "In short, if you encounter something you can't handle, call my father, or go directly to my lab."

"Okay, I wish you success in your experiment." Lin Ying pushed open the door.

"I wish you a smooth start to the school year, genius." Matthew waved, turned around, opened the door, and went into his room.

On October 1st, Cambridge town welcomed its liveliest moment.

A light drizzle was falling from the sky, and the wet stone pavement was filled with young people carrying suitcases and wearing various trench coats or robes.

Professor Smith had specially changed into a formal three-piece suit today, and was holding a long black umbrella. He walked beside Lin Ying, leading her through the crowded streets to the registration hall of the mathematics department.

"Ignore the looks they're giving you, Lynn." Professor Smith walked straight ahead without looking at her. "They've just never seen such a young, exceptionally admitted student before."

Lin Ying was naturally aware of the gazes around her.

In 1987, Cambridge University had begun admitting women, but the proportion was still pitifully low. In the mathematics department, which was considered a "battleground of male intelligence," women were even rarer.

Moreover, Lin Ying is of Asian descent.

She wore a dark blue turtleneck sweater and black trousers, with a tailored light trench coat over them, and carried a backpack. Her long black hair was simply tied back.

Among the large group of blond, blue-eyed white men in the hall, she stood out like a black crow among a flock of swans.

"Who is that girl? She's in the wrong school!"

"Is that Professor Smith next to her? Wasn't he retired?"

"Asian? Japanese or from Hong Kong? She doesn't look like she's even an adult yet."

Various hushed English voices, mixed with incomprehensible accents, came from all directions; some gazes were filled with pure curiosity, while others made no attempt to conceal their disdain and curiosity.

Lin Ying pretended not to hear and, following Professor Smith's instructions, handed her passport, admission letter, and the residency certificate prepared by lawyer Vanessa to the registration office staff.

The administrator was a middle-aged woman wearing reading glasses; she checked the list and stamped the form.

"Welcome to Cambridge, Ms. Lin." The middle-aged woman handed over a thick file bag. "This is your course schedule, college rules, and your supervision assignment list. You don't have the right to choose your own courses in your first year; all foundation courses are in the large lecture hall, but your supervision group is fixed."

Lin Ying took the file bag: "Thank you."

Professor Smith stood aside and explained, "The essence of Cambridge isn't in those large lectures, but in the tutoring groups. There are about 240 new students in the mathematics department this year. You'll be split up, with two people assigned to a tutor. Twice a week, for one hour each time. During that hour, your tutor will go over everything you didn't understand in class and everything you got wrong in your assignments."

Lin Ying opened the file bag and took out the list of tutoring group members.

Mentor: Scott Harrison.

Partner: Lucas Bennett.

"Lucas Bennett?" Lin Ying read the name aloud.

"Go ahead. According to the rules, you need to go see your mentor and this partner now." Professor Smith glanced at his watch. "I'll leave you here."

Following the map, Lin Ying wandered around the school for about ten minutes before finally finding Scott's professor's office.

The office door was ajar. Lin Ying knocked and went inside.

The room smelled of black coffee, and draft papers covered in formulas were scattered all over the floor. A disheveled man was standing with his back to the door, calculating something on a blackboard.

On the sofa by the window sat a tall boy.

He was wearing a baseball jacket, a pair of worn-out sneakers, and had curly brown hair; his attire seemed out of place in Cambridge, a city brimming with British style.

Hearing footsteps, the boy saw Lin Ying.

He paused for a moment, then subconsciously pulled the list out of his pocket, glanced at it, and looked up at Lin Ying.

"You... are Lynn Lin?"

"Yes, that's me." Lin Ying walked over and put down her backpack. "Are you Lucas Bennett?"

Lucas stood up; she was a head taller than Lin Ying. "Damn it, I thought the administration had misspelled the name. When I saw 'Lynn,' I thought it was an old-fashioned British boy's name; it turns out it's not only a girl, but an Asian girl."

He extended his hand: "Lucas; from Boston, USA."

Lin Ying grasped his hand: "Lin Ying is from Hong Kong."

"Oh, a British colony." Lucas nodded. "Then you must be unfamiliar with the place too."

"Yes"

Lucas smiled. "It's good that we're both 'outsiders' in this school; at least we don't have to look down on each other's class."

As the two were talking, their tutor, Scott, who had been working on calculations with his back to them, finally turned around.

He looked to be in his thirties, with heavy dark circles under his eyes.

"Are you done chatting, American and Hong Kong girl?" Scott walked behind his desk and sat down, pointing to a thick stack of documents on the table.

"I am Scott Harrison; I don't care about your background, your gender, or your nationality. The only thing that will make me give you a second glance in this office is the derivation process you submit."

Scott shoved two sheets of paper in front of them: "This is this week's reading list and bonus questions. Come here next Tuesday at 3 p.m. with your answers; if you can't even get past the first question, be prepared to stand here for a full hour and listen to me yell at you; now, grab your things and get out."

Lin Ying picked up the test paper and put it directly into her bag: "See you next Tuesday, Professor Scott."

Lucas, somewhat dumbfounded, took the stack of lecture notes and followed Lin Ying out of the office.

"Are all the teachers here so...brutal? Aren't the British supposed to be very gentlemanly?" Lucas looked at the questions in his hand, his face turning green. "We haven't even covered this in our large lectures yet!"

Lin Ying thought, "He probably wanted to see our level and prepare us for a test."

Over the next three days, Lin Ying experienced firsthand the pace of the Cambridge Mathematics Department.

In the large lecture hall, the professor didn't care whether you could keep up or not; he just talked about what he wanted to say, erasing and rewriting the formulas on the blackboard repeatedly.

The lecture hall was packed with over two hundred people, ninety-five percent of whom were male. The few female students present mostly sat in corners, heads bowed, silently taking notes.

On Thursday afternoon, after finishing her last long lecture, Lin Ying packed her bag and prepared to go to the library to look up the bonus questions Scott had left behind.

As soon as he stepped out of the teaching building, Lucas chased after him from behind.

"Hey! Lynn! Wait for me!" Lucas ran to her side, panting heavily.

"Can't you do the bonus question?" Lin Ying glanced at him.

"No, I already have an idea for the bonus question. Boston's math education isn't all garbage, okay?" Lucas walked side by side with her on campus.

"What happened?"

Lucas glanced around and whispered, "Lynn, I moved out of the dorms at the college yesterday and rented an apartment in town."

Lin Ying was somewhat surprised: "I remember you said on the first day of school that the college dormitories were cheap and that you could experience authentic British university life."

"To hell with British life!" Lucas cursed. "You have no idea what I've been through in the dorms these past three days! Ninety-five percent of the students here are men! And many of those British guys come from those boarding schools or public schools!"

Lin Ying looked at him curiously: "So?"

Lucas gritted his teeth and said, "So! I noticed they were looking at me strangely! Last night, that Englishman next door named Richard actually came to my door in his pajamas and asked if I wanted to have a drink and discuss ancient Greek philosophy! To hell with ancient Greek philosophy, when he looked at me, his eyes were fixed on my thighs!"

Lin Ying quickly suppressed the urge to burst out laughing;

"I finally understand!" Lucas looked up in despair. "The men here are all about men! I'm a straight Boston guy, I simply can't stand being in those dorms!"

"Lynn, now I know why you don't live on campus; you're a smart girl. As for me, these three years at Cambridge, putting everything else aside, I have to protect my butt!"