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

This was Lin Ying's first experience of deep sleep; there were no dreams, no floating or sinking, and she didn't even have angina.

After Lin Ying woke up, she felt...very comfortable.

This feeling was so unfamiliar; she had never experienced comfort like this in her eighteen years.

She tried taking a deep breath, and the air instantly filled her body, without that feeling of her chest about to burst.

"You're awake! You're awake!" A woman's voice came from the doorway, followed by the clattering sound of slippers running in.

Lin Ying turned her head; she got used to the name very quickly.

A woman in her early thirties rushed to the bedside, wearing a floral apron, her hair casually tied up, and her hands still covered in flour.

Following closely behind was a thin, dark-skinned man wearing a vest and shorts, with muscular arms typical of someone who does manual labor. His skin was tanned to a bronze color, and his facial features were quite handsome.

The two men stared at her as if they had been waiting for her their whole lives.

In the hazy memories in their minds, they had waited for nine years.

"You..." The woman raised her hand to touch Lin Ying's face, but withdrew it halfway through. "Do you recognize us?"

Lin Ying looked at them.

The memories weren't her own; they were remnants of this body. Vague, fragmented perceptions: the man feeding her porridge, the woman repeatedly calling out softly, "Sister, sister, when will you recognize your mother...?"

His mouth moved before his brain: "Dad, Mommy."

She spoke Cantonese, and Lin Ying was stunned. In her past life, she could speak Mandarin, English, and Japanese, but she had never learned Cantonese. But now, the tone and rhythm that came out of her mouth were... it was her body's memory.

The woman burst into tears and rushed over to hug Lin Ying tightly.

The man stood to the side, lowered his head, and wiped his face with his large hand.

The woman released her, cupped her face, and looked her over from left to right, tears still falling: "You recognize us! You recognize us!"

Lin Ying felt a little uncomfortable being stared at like that; she wasn't used to someone staring at her so intently.

"I..." Lin Ying began, "I don't remember much of it."

She didn't remember; the original owner had been mentally impaired for nine years and didn't have many clear memories to begin with. Xu Yue's memories belonged to another world and another body, so she couldn't say anything about them.

He Dazhu breathed a sigh of relief: "It's alright, it's alright." His Cantonese had a distinct accent. "You are our good daughter named Lin Ying, and you also have a younger brother named Lin Qian, who hasn't come back from school yet."

He got more and more carried away, unable to stop himself: "I'm your father, He Dazhu. I'm a smuggler from G Province..."

"Snap!"

The woman slapped He Dazhu on the back of the head.

"Are you crazy?! You're telling us everything!" the woman yelled, glaring at him. "You're telling your daughter about something like illegal immigration?!"

He Dazhu reflexively stepped aside, muttering, "So what if he said it... He can talk about his own daughter."

Lin Ying smiled as she watched this scene; it was something she had never seen before: a woman scolding a man, and the man not daring to talk back; they might argue, but it was all very warm and friendly.

The woman looked at Lin Ying with a softened expression, sat on the edge of the bed, and took her hand.

"I am your mother, and it is June 1980." She slowed her speech. "Mommy is a native of Hong Kong with the surname Lin. There are few people in Mommy's family; your father married into the family, so you took my surname Lin."

She looked at her daughter and added, "Your grandparents and uncle live in a village in the New Territories. They're all in good health. We'll take you back to see them this weekend. They've been looking forward to your recovery for many years."

Lin Ying nodded.

There was a lot of information, but she has always been good at processing information.

She married into the family, so her surname is Lin, which is her mother's surname; He Dazhu is her father's real name. He came from G province illegally and is registered under the Lin family's household registration.

"Something was wrong with you from the moment you were born." Mommy choked up as she spoke, but held back her tears. "You were fine before you turned one, you would laugh and play, but after you turned one, suddenly... you stopped recognizing people; your eyes were empty, and you wouldn't respond when called..."

"We've taken you to see so many doctors," He Dazhu chimed in from the side. "Western medicine says there's something wrong with your brain..."

"Later, your grandma introduced you to Master Wu." Mommy interrupted him. "Master Wu immediately said that you had been reincarnated in the wrong place and your soul would be sent back when you were nine years old."

Did I end up in the wrong place? Lin Ying pondered this question.

So... this body never had a soul to begin with? Or was the original soul lost, left empty for nine years, waiting for her?

When the sorceress said "sent back," who was being sent back? Was it the original owner's soul, or was it her, Xu Yue?

These questions can't be asked now.

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore." Mommy patted the back of her hand, stood up, and said, "Are you hungry? Mommy will make you a bowl of noodles. You haven't eaten for a whole day and night."

She slept for a day and a night.

"Hungry." Lin Ying's stomach was contracting, a real feeling of hunger; in her previous life, her half-dead body had lost its appetite as one of the first functions.

I have the real feeling of being alive.

Mommy hurried out of the bedroom, the clatter of her slippers fading into the distance, followed by the sounds of running water and clattering dishes coming from the kitchen.

He Dazhu was still squatting in the same spot, looking at her: "Little sister, Old Dou used to tell you a lot of things, don't you remember?"

"I don't remember," Lin Ying answered honestly.

"It's alright." He Dazhu smiled. "We can talk about it later. I'll go cook for you."

He stood up, couldn't help but look back at her one last time, and then left the room.

Lin Ying sat up and looked around the bedroom.

It wasn't big, maybe seven square meters at most. A single iron-framed bed, an old desk, and a two-door wardrobe, the doors of which didn't close properly, revealing neatly folded clothes inside. On the wall hung a yellowed New Year's picture of a chubby baby holding a koi fish.

Small and cramped, but clean; the quilt was made of cotton, washed until soft and fluffy, and had the smell of sunshine.

------

After finishing the noodles, Mommy said she was going to start work at the shop and asked Lin Ying if she wanted to come along.

"I'm worried about leaving you home alone," Mom said, squatting down to put her shoes on. They were white plastic sandals with a bow on the top. "Just stay with Mom and sit down. You don't need to do anything."

Lin Ying nodded; she also wanted to see the outside world.

Stepping out the door, there was a long, narrow corridor with iron gates on both sides, and the door numbers were painted in red. He Dazhu didn't come with them; he carried his toolbox out, saying someone had commissioned him to make cabinets.

Yufa Building has a short commercial street downstairs, lined with herbal tea shops, roast meat stores, convenience stores, and newsstands. The air is filled with the aroma of roast goose and the bitter smell of herbal tea. The street is narrow, but crowded with people. There are elderly women pushing carts, students in school uniforms, and middle-aged men with cigarettes in their hands passing by, each going about their own business.

Mommy held her hand and walked quickly through the streets and alleys, turning two corners before stopping in front of a shop with its iron gate half-rolled up.

The signboard is handwritten, with gold lettering on a red background: "Lin's Tailor".

The shop is small, about ten square meters. To the left of the entrance is a whole wall of fabric racks, with many different patterns, neatly stacked. To the right is an old-fashioned sewing machine and a large cutting table, with rulers, chalk, and scissors scattered on the table.

Mommy rolled up the iron gate and settled Lin Ying in a folding chair in the corner.

"Sit here, and pour yourself some water if you're thirsty." Mommy pointed to the thermos under the counter, then sat down at the sewing machine and started working.

Lin Ying sat in the folding chair, watching her mother's steady hands, the fabric moving quickly and straight under the needle.

A neighbor passed by and peeked in: "Sister Lin! Is your little sister really better?"

"Alright, alright," Mommy replied without even looking up.

"Oh, congratulations! I'll bring over a cheongsam to alter later, and I'll open your business for the first time!"

Mom responded and pedaled the sewing machine even faster.

Lin Ying looked down at her hands, small and chubby. She clenched her fist, her fingers nimbly opening and closing, finally possessing a healthy body.

The school bell rang from afar, and Mom said to Lin Ying, "Your little brother is coming home."