"The Sixth Set of Radio Exercises now begins. Stretching exercise, ready, go! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight; two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight..."
"Aimin, Aimin, wake up!"
"Teacher Han! Teacher Han!"
"Stop shouting and get Teacher Han to the hospital!"
"Who knows whether he broke a bone? Don't move him around. We should call the hospital!"
Han Aimin was jolted awake by the overlapping shouts. Opening his eyes, he saw familiar yet strange faces gathered around him, each one more anxious than the last. Then a searing pain shot through his elbows and knees.
"Aimin's awake. Make some room." A man in his forties let out a breath of relief and urgently asked, "Aimin, are you all right?"
Unless he was dreaming, the man before him had to be Zhong Jianyu, his former colleague and Big Brother. Zhong had transferred out of the military to 985 Factory. Since he did not understand technical work and the factory had no shortage of political cadres, he had been assigned to the children's middle school as a politics teacher.
Behind Zhong Jianyu stood a young woman in a Floral Plaid Spring and Autumn Shirt. Her surname was Liu, and her name was Liu Pingping. She was both a 985 Factory descendant and third sister's classmate from daycare through middle school. After graduating high school and failing to get into college, she had been assigned to the children's middle school as an English teacher. But she did not hold cadre status, nor was she a formal employee. She was a "collective worker," whose salary and benefits were one grade 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