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

After the first week of classes, Lin Ying noticed a pattern.

All teachers, regardless of what subject they teach, will automatically look at themselves when they get to a difficult point.

In a control theory class, Professor Zhao finished writing the state equation for a linear system, put the chalk on the podium, and said, "Lin Ying, please explain your approach to this problem."

In signal processing class, Professor Fang pointed a finger and said, "Lin Ying, come up and write."

The course on advanced mathematics methods was even more outrageous. Professor Liu simply wrote a partial differential equation on the blackboard and looked at her, saying, "You're from Cambridge, you shouldn't need me to give you a hint, right?"

On the first day, Lin Ying thought it was a coincidence, but it happened again on the second day! On the third day, the fourth day... and on Friday, even Mr. Wang, the teacher of the computer basics class, did this.

Sun Miaoshu leaned on the table and whispered, "Lin Ying, did you offend the academic affairs office? Why do they call on you in every class?"

Lin Ying: "I suspect they communicated with each other during the meeting."

"What air?"

"Let's see if this Cambridge guy really has any skills."

Sun Miaoshu thought about it and felt that this conjecture was very reasonable.

Fortunately, Lin Ying did have a solid foundation; the three years of high-pressure training at Cambridge were not for nothing. Scott's tutoring style, which was prone to scolding at the slightest disagreement, instilled in her the habit of clarifying the logic before writing down a problem. So every time she was called upon, she could write out the complete derivation process.

But then a problem arises.

Her solution was different from the one in the textbook.

In Wednesday afternoon's control theory class, Professor Zhao gave a problem on linear quadratic optimal control. Several boys in the class were called up and wrote out the standard steps from the book, first listing the equations, then adding the formulas, following the steps methodically.

When it was Lin Ying's turn, she started directly with matrix decomposition, skipping the three redundant calculations in the middle, and derived the answer using a more compact framework.

Professor Zhao stared at the blackboard for a long time: "The answer is correct, but your method is not found in domestic textbooks."

Lin Ying wiped the chalk dust off her hands: "Professors at Cambridge prefer to build from the basic structure upwards, rather than following a formulaic approach."

Professor Zhao nodded: "Okay, please sit back down."

Similar incidents occurred four or five times within a week.

By the end of the first week, all fourteen boys in the class were completely convinced!

The tall, thin boy was named Liu Yang. He was a graduate student recommended by the university and his grades were among the best in his class. He ran into Lin Ying in the cafeteria on Friday afternoon. He sat down opposite her with his tray and hesitated for a long time before speaking: "Lin Ying, I have something to ask you."

"ask"

"You spent three years at Cambridge. Were their undergraduate courses more difficult than our postgraduate courses?"

Lin Ying thought for a moment and wondered how to describe it: "It's not that it's difficult, it's that it's fast; what they cram in during their first year is roughly equivalent to the amount of material we cover in three years of undergraduate studies; the remaining two years are all about delving deeper."

Liu Yang remained silent for a long while before saying, "No wonder."

"No wonder what?"

"No wonder you never look at the book when you're doing your problems."

Lin Ying smiled but didn't reply. It wasn't that she didn't want to look at the book; it was that she had already gone through the contents once and knew them by heart.

Over the next few days, people came to ask her the same question.

"Lin Ying, you were doing well in Cambridge, why did you come back?"

People ask this question in different tones; some are just curious, some mean "Are you out of your mind?", and others genuinely want to know what the outside world is like.

On Saturday night, in the common lounge on the first floor of the dormitory building, a group of people gathered together to chat, someone started it. About ten people from our class were there, and a few from the next class also came.

Sun Miaoshu pulled Lin Ying to sit on a long bench in the corner, and Liu Yang and Chen Jian, a boy with glasses, also came over.

"Lin Ying, tell us, what's Cambridge like?"

Lin Ying leaned against the wall: "What kind of topics would you like to hear about?"

"Let's start with money," Chen Jian said, adjusting his glasses. "I've always been curious, how much did it cost you to study there?"

Lin Ying frankly stated, "Tuition fees are six thousand pounds a year; accommodation and living expenses add up to about twenty thousand pounds a year. Currently, one pound is equivalent to about nine and three yuan."

Liu Yang did the math in his head: "So, tuition alone costs over 50,000 RMB a year? Add living expenses, and it's over 200,000 RMB a year?"

"almost."

"Six or seven hundred thousand over three years?" Chen Jian's voice changed.

Sun Miaoshu immediately covered her mouth: "My God, my parents couldn't earn that much in their entire lives."

Lin Ying continued, "Moreover, Cambridge doesn't offer tuition-free education; no matter how good your grades are, you still have to pay. Scholarships exist, but the number of places is extremely limited, and even fewer are allocated to the mathematics department. I didn't receive any scholarships at the time, and I paid for everything myself."

Someone asked, "And what about your home...?"

"I earned it myself; it was from the royalties I made writing screenplays in Hong Kong."

Another boy nearby chimed in, "Did you have to pay for your studies in Hong Kong before?"

"In Hong Kong, only government schools offer free education, but you can't skip grades. I attended a private primary school to skip grades, and I had to pay for every penny of tuition, tutoring, and extracurricular classes. To prepare for the Cambridge entrance exam, I hired a retired professor as a tutor, and it cost HK$300 per lesson."

"Three hundred Hong Kong dollars a lesson?!"

"Yes, and that was after a discount."

In 1991, most of the graduate students who came from all over the country came from ordinary families and got here by passing the exams themselves. In their minds, the words "studying abroad" represented a kind of unattainable elite privilege.

But Lin Ying calculated the accounts so clearly; the numbers laid out in front of her were cold and real.

Chen Jian was silent for a moment before asking, "So, are you doing well over there?"

"not good."

"I can't get used to the food! The British just boil things and throw them on a plate, no oil, no seasoning. My mom sends me sausages and dried goods from Hong Kong every month, otherwise I probably would have dropped out after the first semester."

Sun Miaoshu laughed out loud: "Are you serious?"

"Seriously, you have no idea how awful those potatoes were! Boiled, steamed, baked—they all tasted the same. Even the cafeteria lady… no, there weren't any cafeteria ladies there, just a white cook, and I doubt he even wanted to eat what he made every day."

Several people laughed, and the atmosphere relaxed a bit.

But Lin Ying's next words silenced them: "The food is a minor issue; what's most upsetting is how the people over there perceive you."

She didn't use any euphemisms: "Ninety-five percent of the students at Cambridge are white men. If you have an Asian face walking around campus, everyone will look at you. Some people are just curious, and some people simply don't welcome you."

"What's wrong with you?" Liu Yang asked.

"During group discussions, they deliberately use slang you don't understand to tell jokes, or they tell you to your face that you don't exist; when you're assigned to a group, no one wants to be in the same group as you; even more extreme, some people will throw ink on the girls' dormitory door or stuff dirty things in it."

No one spoke in the lounge.

"I was lucky," Lin Ying said. "My advisor is respected in the department, and a senior student gave me advance notice, saying that someone would protect me; otherwise, given those people's tempers, tearing up your thesis would be the least of their worries."

Sun Miaoshu was stunned: "Tear up a thesis? They dare?"

"They dare! And the school might not even care; those troublemakers' families have donated money to the school, so the school turns a blind eye."

"And you stayed for three years?"

"Because I went there to learn, not to make friends; Cambridge's math training is indeed top-notch, and I wanted that skill. I could tolerate the rest, but to say that I had a happy three years would be a lie."

After a long pause, Chen Jian spoke up: "So you came back not just because you wanted to start a business."

"It's not just that," Lin Ying said, looking at them. "I don't want to live my whole life on someone else's turf either."

After she said that, no one asked her why she didn't stay in Cambridge anymore.

That evening, after leaving the lounge, Sun Miaoshu and Lin Ying went upstairs together. When they reached the fourth-floor stairwell, Sun Miaoshu stopped and looked back at her.

"Lin Ying".

"Um?"

"I used to think that people who study abroad were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and didn't have to worry about anything. After listening to you today, I realize that's not the case."

Lin Ying looked at her and said, "The roads are all difficult, it's just that the difficult parts are different."

Sun Miaoshu nodded: "Then we'll look after each other from now on."

"it is good."