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

School officially started on September 1st.

Lin Ying got up early, washed up, packed her schoolbag, and set off from the dormitory toward the teaching building; the campus was already bustling with activity, with students everywhere carrying thermos bottles and lunchboxes, and bicycle bells ringing incessantly along the way.

The teaching building was located on the east side of the campus. It was an old three-story building with beige paint on the exterior walls, and the corridors smelled of old chalk dust. Lin Ying found her classroom according to the notice she received when she registered: Industrial Automation Class of '91, 9101, the easternmost room on the third floor.

The classroom door was open, and when she went in, there were already four or five people sitting inside, all of them boys, scattered around.

Lin Ying chose a seat in the second row by the window, put her backpack down, and looked at her class schedule.

About five minutes later, a girl with a ponytail walked in. She was not tall, had a round face, and dark skin. She was carrying a cloth-covered notebook.

She stood at the doorway, glanced around, then her gaze fell on Lin Ying. She quickly walked over, pulled out the chair next to Lin Ying, and sat down.

"Hello! My name is Sun Miaoshu, and I'm from Henan."

Lin Ying turned to look at her and smiled, "Hello, my name is Lin Ying, I'm from Hong Kong."

As soon as he finished speaking, several boys in the front row turned around at the same time.

"Wow!" asked a tall, thin boy sitting in the front row by the aisle, "Are you the one from Hong Kong who graduated from Cambridge?"

Lin Ying thought to herself, "The news travels really fast: I'm from Hong Kong, and I did indeed graduate from Cambridge."

The tall, thin boy looked shocked. "Cambridge University! That's an internationally renowned university! You still say it's not impressive?"

Another boy next to him chimed in, "I knew it! There must be some geniuses in our class. Last week, I heard from a senior in the graduate school that they recruited a genius who came back from the UK this year."

The man with glasses pushed up his glasses and said, "Oh, I can tell from your accent."

Lin Ying was taken aback for a moment: "My Mandarin is very standard, I don't have an accent."

As soon as he said that, everyone in the classroom burst into laughter.

Sun Miaoshu laughed so hard she slapped the table: "Lin Ying, you definitely have an accent! You can tell you're from the South."

Lin Ying always thought her pronunciation was quite standard when speaking Mandarin to outsiders; she never expected it to be so obvious in Beijing!

"Okay," Lin Ying admitted, "There might be a little bit."

The tall, thin guy chuckled: "A little? Sis! You're even pronouncing the 'ba' in 'okay' wrong!"

Sun Miaoshu quickly came to her rescue: "Alright, alright, stop teasing her, she just arrived! I have an accent too, my Henan accent is much stronger than hers."

"That's not an accent," the bespectacled boy said. "That's called broadcasting in a dialect."

Sun Miaoshu picked up her notebook and pretended to smash it at him.

By this time, everyone in the classroom had gradually arrived, totaling sixteen people, which wasn't many. Lin Ying counted them; apart from her and Sun Miaoshu, they were all boys.

At exactly nine o'clock, the front door of the classroom was pushed open, and two people walked in.

The woman in front was a teacher in her thirties, holding a folder; behind her was an older male teacher.

"Sit down, everyone." The female teacher stood on the podium. "I am your counselor, Chen Xue; you can just call me Teacher Chen."

She pointed to the male teacher behind her: "This is your homeroom teacher, Professor He."

Professor He smiled and nodded to the students below: "Hello, students. If you have any academic questions in the future, you can come to me directly."

Teacher Chen opened the document: "Let me first introduce the basic situation to everyone; this year, our university's graduate school of engineering has enrolled a total of 36 master's students, including 6 females and 30 males; they are divided into two classes, Class 1 and Class 2."

She looked up and glanced at the people in the classroom: "Our class 9101 is majoring in Automation, with a total of sixteen people; two girls and fourteen boys."

Sun Miaoshu leaned close to Lin Ying's ear and said, "There are two women, just the two of us. We'll have company when we go to the bathroom from now on."

Lin Ying nodded.

Teacher Chen continued, "Our students come from all over the country. Some were recommended for postgraduate studies at our university, some were admitted from other universities, and one of them came back from overseas."

"Everyone's situation and background are different, so the department has made distinctions in the course arrangement for the first semester. Basic courses are mandatory, laboratory courses are mandatory, and elective courses can be adjusted according to one's own direction."

Professor He continued, "The first semester is quite busy with many classes; everyone should focus and get into the swing of things as soon as possible; this isn't undergraduate school, so no one is chasing you to hand in assignments; but if you fail a course at the end of the semester, the consequences will be severe."

He glanced at the roster in his hand and began calling out names; when he called out "Lin Ying," Lin Ying raised her hand to indicate that she had arrived.

Professor He said, "Lin Ying comes from Hong Kong and graduated from Cambridge University; she is the only Hong Kong and Macao graduate student with an overseas academic background admitted to our class this year; let's communicate more in the future."

Teacher Chen went over the follow-up matters, including how to get the class schedule, how to recharge the meal card, the library borrowing process, and various dormitory rules... The meeting lasted for more than half an hour before it ended.

After the meeting, Sun Miaoshu pulled Lin Ying toward the cafeteria.

"Lin Ying, you really graduated from Cambridge and came back? Then why didn't you stay there? It's so much better there, the salary is high and the environment is great."

"The environment is not good," Lin Ying said.

"Huh? Not good?"

"You'll understand the food there after a week."

Sun Miaoshu's eyes widened: "Really? Don't foreigners always eat steak and drink red wine? That's how it's portrayed on TV."

"The TV is lying to you," Lin Ying said. "The truth is, they boil a potato, without salt or oil, and then shove it right in front of you and tell you it's a proper meal."

Sun Miaoshu's expression shifted from longing to sympathy: "So how did you get through those three years?"

"I relied on the sausages and dried goods that my mother sent from Hong Kong."

The two arrived at the cafeteria, got their food, and sat down to eat. The cafeteria served rice with three dishes at noon: one meat and two vegetable dishes. Lin Ying chose Kung Pao Chicken, stir-fried cabbage, and a bowl of egg drop soup.

While eating, Sun Miaoshu asked her, "Do your family support your coming back?"

"I support you." Lin Ying swallowed the food in her mouth. "My mom's only request is that you don't go hungry, don't get cold, and don't get bullied."

"And what about your dad?"

"My dad's requirement was simpler: if you feel something's wrong, go home."

Sun Miaoshu remarked with emotion, "Your family treats you so well."

Lin Ying smiled but didn't reply, and continued eating with her head down.

On the way back to the dorm after dinner, Sun Miaoshu asked again, "Of the fourteen guys in our class, which one do you think seems the most reliable?"

Lin Ying thought for a moment: "The guy with glasses just now spoke fairly logically."

"Do you judge people based on whether they speak logically and coherently?"

"right."

Sun Miaoshu paused for two seconds before shaking her head: "You do indeed have a background in mathematics."

Back at the dormitory building, the two parted ways. Sun Miaoshu lived on the fourth floor; before leaving, she turned back and called out, "Lin Ying! I'll knock on your door tomorrow morning, let's go to class together!"

"it is good."

Lin Ying went up to the fifth floor, returned to her room, put her schoolbag away, sat down at her desk, and carefully looked through the class schedule she had received that day. The first week's classes were packed: Control Theory, Signal Processing, Advanced Mathematical Methods, Computer Fundamentals, and a lab course.

She made a few marks on the timetable with a pen, and then stuck the paper on the wall above her desk.