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

In late March, the weather in Shenzhen was already getting warm.

Lin Ying stood on the rooftop of Yingchuang's Phase II factory. The wind blew in from the south, carrying the smell of cement being mixed at a distant construction site. Below her stretched the entire factory area. The Phase I production workshops were brightly lit, while the Phase II monitor production line was undergoing final equipment adjustments. The lights were on on the third floor of the R&D building, and it was obvious that Wen Xu was still inside.

She took out her phone and glanced at the time: 9:40. Just then, Liu Yang's voice came from downstairs: "Boss! What are you doing up there? Getting some fresh air?"

Lin Ying: "Let me get some fresh air."

Liu Yang shouted, "Engineer Wen told me to call you! The monitor prototype is ready!"

Without saying a word, Lin Ying turned around and went downstairs, running all the way to the third floor of the research and development building.

On the lab bench, a 24-inch plasma display screen was lit up, the picture was clean and the colors were stable; Chen Jian squatted next to it, still holding a screwdriver in his hand, his face flushed.

Liu Ya stood to the side, holding a freshly printed test report: "The average DeltaE is 3.8, and the worst one is only 4.6, all within the standard."

Lin Ying walked in front of the monitor and stared at it for a long time. The screen displayed a high-definition landscape photo with accurate colors, uniform brightness, and no shadows at the edges.

She asked Chen Jian, "What's the number of this one?"

Chen Jian looked exhausted: "Ninth one. The previous eight were all failed, but this one finally made it through."

Liu Yang explained from behind, "He slept a total of six hours in the past three days. Yesterday at three o'clock in the morning, I went to the bathroom and saw him lying on the lab table with a bowl of instant noodles next to him. The noodles were all clumped together."

Chen Jian scratched his head sheepishly, "I forgot about it after eating only half of it."

Lin Ying patted him on the shoulder: "You can split the 150,000 yuan prize money among yourselves."

Chen Jian's eyes suddenly reddened, and he quickly turned his head away, pretending to look at the circuit board.

When Lin Ying returned to the villa, it was almost eleven o'clock; the living room lights were still on, and He Dazhu was sitting on the sofa watching TV with the volume turned very low.

Lin Lanying carried Zaozao downstairs. Zaozao was already asleep, her little head resting on her grandmother's shoulder, her mouth slightly open.

"You're back?" Lin Lanying asked softly.

Lin Ying nodded and went over to look at her daughter; Zaozao was growing more and more beautiful, her eyebrows somewhat resembling Wen Xu's, and her mouth like her own: "How was your day? Were you a good girl?"

Lin Lanying rolled her eyes at her: "When have you ever asked her if she's being naughty? She's good every day, a hundred times better than you were when you were little."

He Dazhu chuckled on the sofa without saying a word.

Wen Xu followed him into the room, taking very light steps as he changed his shoes. He walked to Lin Lanying's side and reached out to take Zaozao from her. Zaozao opened her eyes groggily, saw that it was Wen Xu, and then closed them again.

Lin Ying stood in the entryway watching this scene, and a strange feeling welled up in her heart; to have a good body, a capable mind, family by her side, love from others, and even be able to make a name for herself in her work... These were things that Xu Yue, lying in his hospital bed in his previous life, never dared to dream of.

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In April, the first batch of 500 monitors successfully rolled off the production line, and the exclusive agency contract with Zhang Henian was officially signed and took effect. The first batch of goods was loaded into containers and shipped to North America.

In May, Masaki Tanaka's Dou Dizhu game was officially launched. The interface was simple and the functions were limited, but it spread among office workers in the first week and the number of registered users exceeded 100,000 within a month.

Chen Zhiyuan's enterprise management system also completed its second iteration this month.

When He Fangqin rushed into Lin Ying's office, she was waving a report in her hand: "Boss! The revenue from Dou Dizhu (a card game) this month has exceeded expectations! Mr. Tanaka is already working on the Mahjong plan!"

Lin Ying took the document and glanced at the numbers: "Tell Tanaka that after the mahjong game is finished, start preparing the project proposal for the major project."

He Fangqin's eyes lit up: "A big project? An RPG?"

Lin Ying looked up at her: "When did you become so knowledgeable about games?"

He Fangqin chuckled: "I have meetings with Mr. Tanaka every day, so I've been influenced by him."

In June, Lin Ying went to the Beijing University of Science and Technology for campus recruitment as agreed.

The lecture hall was packed, with students in the back rows unable to see what was in front. Lin Ying stood on the podium, wearing a light gray suit jacket over a white shirt, her hair casually tied in a ponytail: "My name is Lin Ying, the founder of Yingchuang Technology."

She didn't use PowerPoint and started speaking directly: "Today I won't talk about how big the company is or how much money it has made. I'll talk about one thing: what we make will eventually end up in the hands of ordinary people; every board you build and every line of code you write will become a part of someone else's life. This is something worth taking seriously; it can bring you more gains and growth."

There was a two-second silence, then applause broke out.

That evening, after the job fair ended, Lin Ying treated Liu Yang and Sun Miaoshu to dinner in Beijing. Sun Miaoshu is now working on a communications project at a research institute in Beijing; her hair is shorter than it was in college, and she looks much more energetic.

Liu Yang, holding his wine glass, said, "You two were monsters back in school, and you're still monsters now, while I'm just an ordinary person stuck in the middle."

Sun Miaoshu smiled and clinked glasses with him: "You're just average? You're working for Lin Ying now, and your annual salary is three times higher than mine."

Liu Yang paused for a second, then said, "That's because my boss has good taste."

Lin Ying didn't reply, and took a sip of tea.

She recalled her university days, the afternoon Li Xiao took her to the D3 lab, and the forty minutes he spent flipping through her notebook when they first met.

Those youthful days passed by in a blur. But looking back, I realize I took the right steps every time.

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In July, Su Zhihao's movie began filming.

The title has been decided: "Her Empire," which tells the story of a grassroots woman who started from scratch. The filming location is in Yingchuang Technology's factory and R&D building. Su Zhihao has used all newcomers and replaced the equipment with the latest models.

On the day of filming, Lin Ying went to the set for a quick look. Director Zhou was sitting behind the monitor, and the female lead was standing in front of the production line wearing work clothes.

Su Zhihao leaned over and put his arm around Lin Ying's shoulder: "Look, isn't this just like you when you were young?"

Lin Ying looked at the young actress on the screen: "Second Uncle, I'm only in my early twenties now."

Su Zhihao laughed heartily: "You little brat, you're ten times more cunning than me, and ten times more shameless!"

By the end of the year, Wen Xu's vacation was long over, and he returned to his institute to continue leading projects. The two resumed their days of meeting by phone, but this time, with Zaozao present, the conversations became much richer.

Wen Xu calls every day at eight o'clock sharp, asking about Zaozao for the first five minutes and then Lin Ying for the next five minutes.

Lin Ying couldn't help but ask one day, "Engineer Wen, who exactly are you dating?"

Wen Xu laughed on the other end: "With you and your daughter."

Lin Ying felt a lump in her throat, but quickly suppressed it; she wasn't a crybaby, she had never cried in her past life, and she didn't intend to develop that habit in this one.

On New Year's Day, Lin Ying sat alone in the study of her Kadoorie Hill villa, with the night view of Hong Kong and the lights of thousands of homes outside the window.

She opened the drawer, and at the bottom was an old notebook. She opened the first page, and there were crooked words written on it: My name is Lin Ying, and I am nine years old.

That was the first thing she wrote after waking up; the handwriting was terrible because it was the first time these hands had ever held a pen.

She flipped through the pages, each one filled with records from the past few years. Some were numbers, some formulas, some story outlines, and some were just a few words scribbled down.

Turn to the last page, it's blank.

Lin Ying picked up her pen, thought for a moment, and wrote down a line: "In my past life, I said I wouldn't be human in my next life, because I'm too hard and cold; in this life, I was human, and I found it's not so bad; I have someone to love me, something to do, and a chubby daughter."

She closed the notebook and put it back at the bottom of the drawer.

Laughter drifted downstairs early in the morning; Lin Lanying was playing with her, and He Dazhu was making soup in the kitchen... Everything was so wonderful when her phone suddenly rang. Lin Ying answered it, and a warm voice said, "Happy New Year."

Lin Ying leaned back in her chair and smiled slightly: "Happy New Year, Engineer Wen."

(End of the article)