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

"Then we're in the same grade."

He Dazhu really didn't expect that his master's grandson would also be studying at that St. Paul's Private School. He quickly calculated in his mind: one was a high-and-mighty rich young master, and the other was his poor carpenter's daughter who had just woken up. Would she be bullied if they were in the same school?

Su Zhihao shrugged nonchalantly, picked up a piece of braised pork and stuffed it into his mouth, muttering indistinctly, "So what if we're in the same grade? Ah Jun has been studying at that lousy school for three years, causing me a ton of trouble every year! I'm thinking of transferring him to another school."

"I didn't cause any trouble!" Su Jun immediately stiffened his neck, his mouth pursed. "It's clearly those teachers who are too fierce! They don't treat people like human beings at all!"

Lin Ying held her small bowl and looked curiously at the boy across from her who couldn't even sit still for three minutes during a meal.

Everyone knows very well what kind of ecosystem exists in ordinary private schools in Hong Kong: cliques and factions form, and school bullying is particularly serious in these schools.

But São Paulo is different.

St. Paul's is known for its strict rules; the school rules are posted in black and white on the bulletin board. No matter if your father is a bank manager in Central or a gangster in Kowloon City, once you enter the school, it's all about grades and following the rules. If you make a mistake, you'll be given a demerit or expelled. The principal won't even give the Governor of Hong Kong face; there will be no exceptions.

Families who can afford to send their children to São Paulo are all either extremely wealthy or powerful; Su Zhihao may be able to act arrogantly with his underlings outside, but at the gates of that school, parents who are richer and more influential than him are lining up to wait for the bus.

Therefore, even though Su Jun was a fearless little tyrant outside, he couldn't cause any big trouble inside São Paulo.

Lin Ying wasn't afraid of him at all: "Is the management in São Paulo very strict? Do they often not test on content from the textbook?"

These words struck Su Jun's sore spot with pinpoint accuracy.

"Yeah, right! It's insane! You have no idea how twisted that place is!" He got more and more agitated as he spoke: "The exam questions are so incomprehensible, even a ghost couldn't understand them! The general knowledge section often tests things that aren't even in the textbooks; one day they'll ask you about astronomy, the next day about geography! The English reading comprehension passages are pages and pages long, with more densely packed text than in a newspaper!"

Ignoring the stares of the adults at the table, Su Jun continued his tirade: "That's not all! Our homeroom teacher, surnamed Huang, is the strictest bastard in the whole school! Last semester at the parent-teacher conference, he called out names and berated my dad in front of dozens of parents, treating him like a grandson..."

"Snapped!"

Su Zhihao finally couldn't take it anymore. He suddenly stretched out his thick arm and slapped Su Jun hard on the back of the head.

"What are you saying! Even food can't shut your mouth!" Su Zhihao's face was long. He couldn't bear to be exposed by his son in front of his older brother and father.

Su Jun was beaten, but he was not afraid of Su Zhihao's tough exterior but weak interior, and he didn't stop talking at all.

He glanced sideways at his father and muttered, "I'm just telling the truth!"

Su Zhiming, standing to the side, held a teacup and watched his usually arrogant and domineering younger brother being publicly exposed by his own son. He was in a good mood, so he lowered his head to drink his tea to hide his smile and didn't say a word. Chen Meishan, on the other hand, covered her mouth and pretended to cough.

Su Jun, however, was completely oblivious; he sighed deeply, picked up a spoon and poked at the rice in his bowl listlessly, looking utterly hopeless.

"You think I'm so powerful? I have to keep my tail between my legs in São Paulo, you know? In that godforsaken place, background doesn't matter, they only recognize two things."

"First, academic performance; second, moral character."

Su Jun counted on his fingers: "Your grades are bad, the teachers don't even want to look at you; your conduct score is low, and they'll call your parents all the time. Even worse? They'll expel you! You all know how powerful my dad is in Kowloon City~"

He glanced at Su Zhihao again, remaining unfazed by Old Dou's murderous glare: "But when they got to the principal's office at St. Paul's, he, like the other parents, could only obediently sit in line and wait for his number to be called. Those parents were all sorts of people—big lawyers, legislators, owners of listed companies…who even knew who you, Su Zhihao, were!"

Su Zhihao slammed his chopsticks down on the table with a crisp "click".

Su Jun quickly ended his accusation, but he still tried to save face by squeezing out one last sentence: "If I weren't a bit smart and my grades weren't decent, it would have been really hard to get through that kind of place."

Su Yongchang, seated at the head of the table, began, "Your grades are acceptable? What was your math score on the final exam last semester?"

Su Jun's incessant chattering suddenly stopped, as if glued shut.

"In my world, I'd give it 68 points," Su Yongchang answered for him directly.

Su Jun coughed lightly. He had to quickly change the subject, or he wouldn't be able to eat today. His gaze swept around the table and finally settled on Lin Ying.

"And you!" Su Jun bombarded Lin Ying with questions, "You're nine and in fourth grade? Which school did you go to before? Where did you transfer from? Were your grades good?"

Everyone's gaze, following Su Jun's question, fell on Lin Ying.

"I didn't attend school," Lin Ying said honestly.

"What do you mean?" He didn't understand.

"Literally, for the previous nine years, I had never attended school for a single day; later, when I wanted to go to school, I stayed at home and studied the textbooks on my own for about two months, and then I took the entrance exam for the São Paulo transfer program."

Lin Ying added, "Personally, I think the questions they took weren't that difficult."

Su Jun's mouth opened wide. It was an opening wide enough to fit an entire egg.

"Two months?!"

"Two months."

Never been to school? Read textbooks for two months? And got accepted directly as a transfer student?

This is impossible!

He Dazhu, who had been sitting on the side holding back, finally couldn't take it anymore.

"The full score is 300." He Dazhu immediately said with a smile, "My daughter scored 299."

Su Jun was stunned. He turned to look at his father, Su Zhihao, whose face looked like he had just swallowed an unpeeled lime.

All eyes at the table were now on Lin Ying;

Su Zhiming put down his teacup and took another look at the quiet little girl next to He Dazhu.

When he first entered, he thought this was just a burden brought by his father's newly accepted low-level apprentice, and that he would just need to exchange a few polite words and keep his distance; but now it seems that this is not the case at all.

A perfect score of 300, 299? Su Zhiming, an elite in Central, knew better than anyone how difficult it was to transfer to St. Paul's. Anyone who could achieve such a score was no ordinary person. This carpenter had actually given birth to a genius.

Chen Meishan's gaze towards Lin Ying instantly turned fiery.