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

Lin Ying didn't go to Guangzhou much during June and July.

Everything that needed to be arranged was done. In Europe, they were waiting for Claire to run the channels, and in the United States, they were waiting for Lucas to handle the certification. Lin Ying was doing whatever she needed to do in Hong Kong, calling twice a week to check on the progress. The rest of the time she was at home reading, having meals with her parents, and occasionally having a meal and chatting with Su Zhe and the others.

Life went on without any major ups and downs.

At 2 p.m. on August 3rd, the fax machine in the study rang.

Lin Ying was reading a report about the Southeast Asian market when she heard the sound and went over, spitting out fax papers one by one.

The first page was Claire's salutation, which read:

"Lynn, Argos has confirmed the order, Carrefour has confirmed the order, and Toys "R" Us Germany has confirmed the order. Attached is a summary of the purchase orders from these three companies. Please confirm production capacity. Claire"

Lin Ying turned to the second page and glanced at the numbers.

Twist machines: 20000 units.

Scooters: 20000 units.

Rubik's Cubes: 40000.

Magic rulers: 40000.

Early childhood education playhouse: 10000 sets.

Lin Ying placed the fax paper on the table, sat back in her chair, and stared at the numbers for half a minute.

Then she picked up the phone and dialed the landline at the Guangzhou factory: "Director Zhou, this is Lin Ying."

"Miss Lin, what's the matter?" There was a machine noise coming from Factory Manager Zhou's side.

"We've received an order from Europe."

"How many?"

Lin Ying read the numbers aloud.

"Miss Lin, could you say that again?"

Lin Ying read it again.

Factory Manager Zhou: "Sister Lin! We're operating all four production lines at full capacity right now. At our maximum, we'll produce 15,000 balance bikes, 20,000 scooters, and 30,000 Rubik's Cubes and Rubik's Rulers a month..."

"I know."

When is this order due for delivery?

Lin Ying flipped back to the first page of the fax and looked at the dates Claire had marked: "Arrives at port before the end of November. Including sea freight time, it needs to be shipped out before the end of October."

Factory Director Zhou took a breath on the other end of the phone: "Two and a half months?"

"right."

"It's not enough. At the current production capacity, we won't even be able to produce a third of it in two and a half months."

"So you need to add cables? Do you have enough space to put the new equipment?" Lin Ying asked.

"There's over 700 square meters of vacant land next to the office building. Didn't you say last time you were saving it for future use?"

"Now is the future." Lin Ying picked up a pen and drew a few lines on the paper. "Add four more injection molding machines, expand the assembly line by three, and hire more workers. You contact Uncle Jianying about the equipment, and discuss the personnel matters with Lin Weiqiang."

"money……"

"I'll wire two million tomorrow, is that enough?"

Factory Director Zhou did the math: "That's enough, just barely enough."

"Let's do it."

After hanging up, Lin Ying called Lin Weiqiang's pager; five minutes later, Lin Weiqiang called back: "Sister Ying!"

Why are you running?

"I was moving boxes in the workshop when I heard the pager go off, so I ran out."

"A big order from Europe has come in, with delivery in two and a half months. The factory needs to expand production. Director Zhou has arranged to add equipment and staff, and you'll be in charge of recruiting."

Lin Weiqiang was taken aback: "How many do you want to recruit?"

One hundred and thirty.

"One hundred... Sister Ying, almost everyone of the eligible age in our village has already gone to work in factories. Where are we going to find another one hundred people?"

"The next village won't work? The town won't work? Advertising in the newspaper won't work?"

Lin Weiqiang thought for a moment: "Well... what about the salary?"

"Same as before, monthly salary of 200 plus piecework."

"Okay, I'll start making arrangements today."

"And one more thing," Lin Ying added, "New hires must have at least five days of training. Don't rush the production and ruin the quality; if the return rate in Europe exceeds one percent, you'll lose that customer."

"I understand, I'll keep an eye on it."

Lin Ying hung up the phone, leaned back in her chair, picked up a pen, and did some calculations on a piece of paper.

20,000 scooters, each with a factory price of five US dollars, totaling one hundred thousand US dollars; 20,000 electric scooters, each with a factory price of four US dollars, totaling eighty thousand US dollars; 40,000 Rubik's Cubes and 40,000 Rubik's Rulers, each with a factory price of one US dollar, totaling eighty thousand US dollars; 10,000 early education rooms, each with a factory price of eight US dollars, totaling eighty thousand US dollars.

This order totaled $340,000.

After deducting production costs and Claire's 12% commission, the net profit is approximately $120,000.

It's not a lot; this is just the first order. If it proves successful in the European market, the subsequent orders will increase several times over.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Throughout the rest of August, Lin Ying called every three days to check on the progress.

In the first week, four new injection molding machines were transported from Dongguan; Lin Zhiying led a team to level the open space and build a temporary steel shed to use as a workshop.

In the second week, the newly recruited workers arrived one after another; the youngest was eighteen and the oldest was forty-three, and most of them were female.

In the third week, the new line began trial operation.

Factory Manager Zhou called: "Ms. Lin, the new production line is running smoothly, and production capacity has increased; we can definitely finish it in two and a half months!"

"Director Zhou, thank you for your hard work."

"Of course."

At the end of August, Lin Ying made one last trip to Guangzhou, inspected all the production lines, and sat down for a meeting with Factory Director Zhou and Lin Weiqiang.

"You two can keep an eye on things from here on out. I won't call every day anymore." Lin Ying placed a coordination list on the table. "Contact Claire when shipping, and she'll arrange for a logistics company to pick up the goods. Handle customs clearance through Lin Jianying's line; he's familiar with it."

Factory Director Zhou took the list: "Understood."

Lin Weiqiang asked with some concern, "Sister Ying, are you not coming anymore?"

"Come again if you need anything. Just do your job well and don't make me worry." After saying that, Lin Ying left the office.

As they walked out of the office building, Lin Weiqiang chased after them, saying, "Sister Ying! Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on this factory with my life."

Lin Ying: "Don't risk your life, use your brain!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In mid-September, news also came from Lucas's side.

A fax came from New York.

"Lynn, all ASTM certifications are passed, and CPSC registration is complete. My uncle Jason has contacted eight independent toy stores in New York and Los Angeles, and all of them are willing to try selling. Also, Toys "R" Us' East Coast regional purchasing manager will be coming to see samples next week. I'm being conservative with the first order: 10,000 pieces of each category, for a total of 50,000 pieces. Please arrange for stock preparation! Lucas"

After reading the fax, Lin Ying tapped her pen twice on the table.

Ten thousand pieces for each category, totaling fifty thousand pieces; more than half less than in Europe, Lucas said he was being conservative.

Whether it's being conservative or not, the US market is too big to rush. We should first test the channels with small orders, and then double up the volume once we see good sales. This is better than going all out at once and then having too much stock stuck in our hands.

She picked up the phone and dialed the factory.

"Director Zhou, the order from the US has also come in, 50,000 pieces. I'll fax you the product category allocation, and you can directly coordinate the delivery time with Lucas."

"Okay; Ms. Lin, the total is nearly 200,000 pieces. This quantity... the European batch can be shipped out before the end of October, but the American batch may have to be postponed until mid-November."

"Yes, shipping from the US takes a short time, so shipping in mid-November is fine."

"Okay, I'll schedule my delivery."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Ying sat at her desk for a while.

It's been over four months since the first scooter rolled off the production line in May; department stores in three Chinese cities are restocking, distribution channels have been established in three European countries, and eight stores in the United States are preparing for trial sales.

With an initial investment of five million RMB, by the end of this year, more than half of the proceeds from these two batches of export orders alone will be recovered.

And that doesn't even include the profits from domestic retail.

Lin Ying put away the fax paper and came out of the study.

He Dazhu was sitting on the sofa in the living room reading a newspaper. When he saw her come out, he looked up and asked, "Finished with work?"

"I'm done with work."

"Come and eat some watermelon, your mom cut a whole one."

Lin Ying sat down on the sofa, took a slice of watermelon from He Dazhu, and took a bite.

He Dazhu turned a page of the newspaper and suddenly said, "Sister, today's newspaper said that the second batch of 100,000 mobile phones has already sold out."

Lin Ying chewed on her watermelon and didn't reply.

"It also said," He Dazhu read aloud, pointing to a passage in the newspaper, "that the identity of Li Hua, the head of the core technology team, remains a mystery. Several international telecommunications giants have offered him an annual salary of tens of millions of US dollars, but there has been no response."

He Dazhu put down his newspaper and looked at Lin Ying: "Sister, who exactly is this Li Hua? He wouldn't take a job with a multi-million dollar annual salary? Is he out of his mind?"

Lin Ying spat the watermelon seeds into the dish: "Maybe they're not short of money."

"Even if you're not short of money, you wouldn't turn down tens of millions of US dollars, would you?" He Dazhu shook his head. "How could there be such a person in the world?"

Lin Ying took another bite of watermelon without saying a word.

The TV show "GG" started playing again, still featuring the same phone, but with a new version of the screen showing a young woman making a phone call on a beach.

The narrator says, "Global sales have surpassed 50,000 units. Changing the world starts from this moment."

He Dazhu muttered while watching TV, "Blow, blow harder."

Lin Ying was watching TV but was thinking: she couldn't calculate how much the year-end dividend from the mobile phone business would be; however, one thing she was clear about was that the money from the toy factory was a small amount, while the dividend from the mobile phone business was the real money.

With these two sums of money combined, she won't have to hesitate about what she wants to do next year.