"Sixth Set of Radio Exercises now begins. Stretching exercise, ready, begin! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight; two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight..."
"Aimin, Aimin, wake up!"
"Mr. Han! Mr. Han!"
"Stop shouting! Get Mr. Han to the hospital, now!"
"Who knows if he broke something? We can't move him carelessly. We should call the hospital!"
Han Aimin was jolted awake by the overlapping cries. Opening his eyes, he saw familiar yet unfamiliar faces surrounding him, each one more anxious than the last. Then a searing pain shot through his elbows and knees.
"Aimin's awake. Make room." A man around forty breathed a sigh of relief and asked anxiously, "Aimin, are you okay?"
Unless he was dreaming, the man before him had to be Zhong Jianyu, his former colleague and big brother. Zhong had transferred to 985 Factory after leaving the military. Since he knew nothing about technology and the factory had no shortage of political cadres, he had been assigned as a politics teacher at the Children's Middle School.
Behind Zhong Jianyu stood a young woman in a Floral Plaid Spring and Autumn Shirt. Her surname was Liu, Liu Pingping. She was both a 985 Factory descendant and third sister's classmate from kindergarten through middle school. After graduating from high school without getting into college, she had been assigned by the factory to teach English at the Children's Middle School. But she was neither a cadre nor a formal employee. She was a "collective worker," whose salary and benefits were one tier below those of formal employees...
"Aimin, look at my hand!" Not knowing what Han Aimin was thinking, Zhong Jianyu raised a finger and moved it before his eyes.
The sharp pain in his elbows and knees, the familiar faces before him, and the