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

As the sense of urgency increased, time unknowingly slipped into November.

The weather was gradually getting less hot and humid. It was a Wednesday, and the computer literacy class that was originally scheduled for the afternoon was temporarily canceled due to computer maintenance. Lin Ying was able to leave school at 3:30 pm with the other students, which was quite unusual.

Lin Ying, carrying her schoolbag, slowly walked to the school bus stop outside the school gate.

As soon as I stood still, I saw a black Mercedes-Benz parked on the side of the road not far away; the door was open, and a man was leaning against the car, a cigarette dangling from his mouth but not lit, and a crumpled piece of paper in his hand, scratching his head in frustration.

Su Zhihao, the second son of the Su family and a triad boss in Kowloon City.

Lin Ying immediately stepped forward and greeted him, "Second Uncle Su."

Hearing the voice, Su Zhihao saw it was Lin Ying and swallowed back the curse he almost uttered: "Oh, it's Ying. Why are you out so early today? Didn't you go to that ridiculously expensive extracurricular class?"

"No computer class today, just checking the machines." Lin Ying noticed his gloomy face and casually asked, "Is Uncle coming to pick up Su Jun from school?"

Upon hearing the name "Su Jun," Su Zhihao ripped the cigarette from his mouth and smashed it on the ground: "Catch him my foot! I was called here by that Mr. Huang, your school's homeroom teacher, to get a scolding!"

Lin Ying raised an eyebrow slightly: "Because of the midterm exam results?"

"Otherwise what?!" Su Zhihao lowered his voice, afraid of being overheard by other parents passing by, and complained through gritted teeth, "That good-for-nothing! He got last place again on the all-subject test! He filled in random answers for general knowledge, failed math, and handed in a blank English paper!"

Su Zhihao slammed his hand on the car door: "In Kowloon City, I manage several streets. Wherever I go, people call me Brother Hao. But when I walk into the principal's office at St. Paul's, that Inspector Wong slams the report card on the table, points his finger at me, and asks how I'm a father! What can I say? I deal with those bastards all day long. How many words do I know? Do you think I can teach him to recite foreign languages ​​myself?"

Lin Ying looked at him quietly without saying a word.

In this microcosm of a hierarchical society called St. Paul, no matter if you, Dad, are a thug or a loan shark outside, once you're here, if your son's grades are at the bottom, in front of the teacher wielding the pointer, you're just an ordinary parent who can only bow and scrape like a grandson.

"Where is Su Jun?" Lin Ying asked.

"He's still in there being kept after school to copy texts. He's not allowed out until he finishes!" Su Zhihao grabbed a handful of his hair. "I'm really worried about this. I need to get him a tutor this weekend, otherwise if he gets the lowest score on the final exam, the school might really expel him!"

Su Zhihao muttered with a pout, "Those tutoring institutions outside charge a hundred or two hundred yuan per lesson, making all sorts of outrageous claims. A roughneck like me can't tell which ones are truly capable and which ones are just trying to scam me."

Lin Ying finally found her direction: "Second Uncle Su, what do you think of me?"

Su Zhihao didn't quite understand at first: "What? How?"

"I'll tutor Su Jun." Lin Ying pointed to herself, her tone confident. "Me? What do you think of me?"

"You?" Su Zhihao smirked. "Aying, don't joke with your second uncle. You're only nine years old."

"I'm nine years old, but I'm the top student in the entire fourth grade." Lin Ying met his gaze and said, "Second Uncle, the teachers you found outside can only teach Su Jun how to read, but they don't understand the rules of St. Paul's, nor do they understand how the teachers here set questions. Su Jun's foundation is too poor, and the people outside treat him like a poor student, so he simply can't listen."

Lin Ying continued, "My grades have always been consistently number one, and I'm in the same grade as Su Jun at São Paulo. I know what kind of obscure charts and graphs they like to test in general knowledge, and I also know where the points are deducted in English reading comprehension. Instead of paying someone from outside, you should pay someone who already knows the rules of this school."

Su Zhihao took this to heart; the people he found outside might not be as effective as this girl.

Since we're going to spend money to buy grades, buying a ready-made top spot in the grade to suppress that brat seems like a very worthwhile deal.

"Sure!" Su Zhihao was a straightforward man; once he figured it out, he went straight to the price. "You're bolder than me, and quick-witted too. If you can really get that loser to sit at his desk and do his homework, I'll give you the outside rate! Fifty yuan per lesson!"

Fifty yuan per class.

In the 1980s, this price was enough for a family of four to have several hearty meat and vegetable meals at the bottom of Hong Kong's economy.

"Okay." Lin Ying readily agreed, then stated her conditions: "But I have a few rules that Second Uncle must agree to, otherwise I won't earn this money."

Su Zhihao chuckled: "Oh, you're going to make demands of me? Tell me about it."

Lin Ying listed the details in an organized manner: "First, the tutoring time is on Sunday mornings, two hours each time, which is one hundred dollars. You have to provide lunch. Second, the tutoring location must be arranged at Grandpa Su's house in Central, or there must be an adult present at your place. I cannot be alone with Su Jun. Third, and most importantly: if he refuses to study, you can punish him. After punishing him, you have to put him back in the chair and make him finish writing the wrong questions."

Upon hearing this, Su Zhihao raised an eyebrow. This girl was so meticulous; she didn't seem like a nine-year-old at all. Arranging for an adult to be present would ensure her safety, and emphasizing that she would continue writing after the punishment would cut off Su Jun's escape route of throwing a tantrum to avoid doing her homework.

"Okay, whatever you say. I'll have the driver pick you up at the entrance of Yufa Building this Sunday morning at nine o'clock!" Su Zhihao readily agreed, then turned to look in the direction of the school gate.

Wearing a school uniform, Su Jun walked out of the iron gate with his head hanging low and a letter of self-criticism in his hand.

Su Jun looked up and saw that Lao Dou was still there. He shrank back and was about to beg for mercy.

Su Zhihao sneered, pointed at Lin Ying standing to the side, and loudly announced, "Ah Jun, your old man has found you a new weekend tutor. Starting this Sunday, you're not going anywhere. You're staying home and studying hard with Ah Ying!"

Su Jun stared wide-eyed at Lao Dou, then at Lin Ying standing there.

"What?! You want her to teach me?!" Su Jun pointed at Lin Ying. "She's only nine years old! Old Dou, are you kidding me? You expect me to call her 'older sister'?!"

"Bullshit! He's first in the grade! What right do you, the last in the class, have to look down on him!" Su Zhihao raised his hand, as if to slash the back of his head.

Lin Ying ignored the father and son's commotion on the street, reached up and pulled up the leather backpack strap on her shoulder, and nodded politely to Su Jun: "Su Jun, see you on Sunday."

He then turned and walked toward the school bus that had just come to a stop.

After getting on the bus and finding a seat, Lin Ying glanced out the window: Su Jun was looking up at the sky and sighing loudly, while Su Zhihao was waving his fist and shouting.