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

From that day on, Lin Ying spent all her free time outside of class on this pile of materials; Matthew's internal research notes were extremely valuable, and many of the derivations were not found in domestic textbooks at all; she understood some parts after reading them once, while others required her to read them three or four times to make sense of them.

When she occasionally encountered a theoretical bottleneck that she couldn't overcome, she would go to Professor Smith.

The old professor has been living a very comfortable life this semester; every morning he goes to the lab to chat with the professors there over tea, in the afternoon he strolls to the cafeteria for dinner, and in the evening he writes his thesis at the guesthouse; every time Lin Ying goes to see him, he is always in high spirits and answers every question.

"Lynn, the students here are much more polite than those at Cambridge!" Smith said, sitting in the guesthouse's reception room with a cup of green tea beside him. "They greet each other when they meet, unlike my students who can't even be bothered to say 'good morning' when they walk in."

"That's because they're afraid of you." Lin Ying sat opposite, flipping through her notebook.

"Afraid of me? Am I that scary?"

"In Cambridge, you're the head of the department, and they'd avoid you if they saw you; here, you're a guest from abroad, so of course everyone's welcoming."

Smith laughed heartily, "You're right! Besides, I could eat different things at the cafeteria every day and never get tired of it! Yesterday, I even had three bowls of rice with that braised pork!"

"Professor, if you keep eating like this, Elaine won't recognize you when you go back to England."

"It's okay, I'll lose weight when I get back."

As for Matthew, Lin Ying really didn't go looking for him again; occasionally when they bumped into each other on campus, Matthew would take the initiative to stop and ask, "Where are you on your studies?" Lin Ying would reply with her progress, and after exchanging a few words, they would go their separate ways.

Time passed by in a flash. Classes continued as usual, experiments were conducted as usual, and the power outage in the electrical engineering class on Wednesday still occurred as usual. In April, May, and June, Lin Ying had thoroughly studied the pile of materials given to her by Matthew and had basically figured out the problem of motor speed control. When Professor Zhang saw her lab report, he finally stopped saying the words "take it apart and start over".

In early July, the first-year graduate students took their final exams.

On the day the results were released, Professor He read out the scores: "Lin Ying, first in total score."

No one was surprised; Liu Yang sighed in the back row and muttered to Chen Jian, "Just because she's here, the professors' grading standards seem to have gone up."

Chen Jian feigned profundity: "No, she just let us know where the ceiling is."

Sun Miaoshu patted Lin Ying on the shoulder and laughed, "We did the experiment as a group, and I actually got fourth place! I'm so lucky!"

Lin Ying glanced at her: "You've worked hard too, don't push everything onto me."

In the middle of the month, Professor Smith and Matthew's exchange period officially ended.

On the day they left, Lin Ying went to the airport to see them off; Smith held her hand and gave her a long list of instructions, which were nothing more than taking care of her health, writing letters if needed, and learning to enjoy life.

Matthew stood to the side, waiting for the old man to finish speaking before speaking, "Lin Ying."

"Um?"

"Among the second batch of people coming next semester, there's one named Peter who works on communication coding. You can go ask him questions; his stuff is related to the direction you'll be working on next."

Lin Ying nodded: "I'll remember, thank you."

Matthew pulled up the handle of his suitcase: "Also, stop staying up all night reading."

How did you know I stayed up late?

Matthew didn't answer, and turned to walk into the security checkpoint.

Summer vacation starts in mid-July and ends in early August, which is about twenty days at most. Flying back to Hong Kong to adjust to the time difference and then flying back would be a waste of time. So, out of the sixteen students in the class, only two from Beijing went home, while the rest stayed at school.

Lin Ying had originally planned to quietly study in her dorm; however, at the end of July, Lin Lanying called: "Little sister, Qian and Yue have graduated! Our whole family is planning to come to Beijing to visit you and do some sightseeing, is that alright?"

Lin Ying was somewhat surprised: "The whole family?"

"Yes! Your grandparents want to come too, as well as your uncle's family, plus the four of us... no, you're already over there, it's me, your dad, Qian, Yue, your grandparents, your uncle, your aunt... nine people!"

Lin Ying mentally calculated the number of people and logistical support needed: "Mommy, when are you coming?"

"Arriving next Wednesday! The plane tickets are already booked!"

"You only contacted me after you'd already made the order?"

"I was afraid you wouldn't let me come, so I'm just doing it first and asking later."

Lin Ying was both amused and exasperated. She put down the phone and started making arrangements. She called several of the best five-star hotels in Beijing and finally booked four suites at the Chang'an Hotel. Her grandparents would stay in one suite, her uncle and aunt would stay in another, her parents and Lin Qian would stay in one, and she and Lin Yue would stay in the third.

Next Wednesday afternoon, Lin Ying took a taxi to the airport to pick someone up; a large family came out of the exit with luggage carts, led by Lin Fu, an old man with a cane, who was more energetic than the young people.

"Grandpa!" Lin Ying ran over.

Lin Fu looked her up and down: "You've lost weight."

"I haven't lost weight, I'm the same as last time."

"You're kidding me! Your face looks thinner!" Li Yuzhen stepped forward and grabbed her granddaughter's hand. "Is the school food bad?"

"Okay, okay, it's a million times better than England."

Lin Qian rushed out from behind, dragging two large suitcases: "Big sister! It's so hot in Beijing!"

Lin Yue followed behind him, holding a travel guide in her hand: "Big sister, is the Forbidden City far? I want to go!"

Lin Yaoying, the younger brother, carried a large backpack, with Deng Hui following beside him.

"Ah Ying!" Deng Hui greeted her with a smile, "Your uncle closed the shop for three days to make this trip. Everyone got three days off, and the apprentice will be keeping watch first!"

Lin Yaoying grinned: "It's a rare treat! The whole family is out for a walk."

The group got into two taxis and headed straight for the Chang'an Hotel.

For the next ten days, Lin Ying worked as a full-time tour guide.

On the first day, they went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Lin Fu stood in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony for a long time, and as he looked at it, the old man actually shed a few tears.

The next day, they climbed the Great Wall. Lin Qian, who had good stamina, rushed to the front, but his legs gave way halfway up and he squatted on the steps, refusing to move.

On the third day, they strolled through the hutongs and sampled local snacks. Lin Lanying highly praised Beijing's fried noodles with soybean paste, while He Dazhu couldn't stop thinking about Peking duck. On the fourth day, they visited the Summer Palace, and on the fifth day, they toured the campus of the University of Science and Technology of China...

Ten days later, the family boarded a plane back to Hong Kong, completely satisfied.

Before leaving, Lin Fu held Lin Ying's hand and told her, "Study hard, don't mistreat yourself, and tell your family if you need money."

"Grandpa, I really don't need money."

"Whether you need it or not, just say so if you need anything."

After seeing her family off, Lin Ying returned to her dormitory, sat down at her desk, and turned on her Apple laptop.

In her second year of graduate school, she needed to determine her research topic.

Professor He urged her last month: "Lin Ying, you need to decide on your research topic as soon as possible; only after you submit your topic can the lab's resources be approved for you."

Lin Ying had already made up her mind.

She opened a new document and typed a few words on the first line: Portable mobile phone terminal design.

It's 1992. The only mobile phones available on the market are those brick-like "big brother" phones, costing twenty or thirty thousand yuan each. They're so heavy they could kill someone if they were crushed. Only bosses and nouveau riche can afford them.

Lin Ying knew very well that portable mobile phones would appear in a few years. They would be ten times smaller, weigh only a few hundred grams, and come down in price, making them affordable for ordinary people.

She wants to make this herself, build a factory, mass-produce it, and sell it.

She stared at that line of text on the screen for a long time, then began typing the first paragraph of the research plan.