"Sixth Set of Radio Exercises begins now. 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! Get Teacher Han to the hospital!"
"Who knows if he's broken any bones? Don't move him around. We should call the hospital instead!"
Han Aimin was jolted awake by the overlapping shouts. Opening his eyes, he saw familiar yet unfamiliar faces gathered around him, each 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 asked urgently, "Aimin, are you all right?"
Unless he was dreaming, the man before him should be Zhong Jianyu, once both his colleague and big brother. He was a military cadre transferred to 985 Factory after leaving the service. Since he knew nothing about 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, Liu Pingping. She was both a 985 Factory Descendant and third sister's classmate from daycare through middle school. After graduating high school without getting into university, she had been assigned to the Children's Middle School as an English teacher. 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!" Zhong Jianyu had no idea what Han Aimin was thinking. He raised his fingers and moved them before Han Aimin's eyes.
The sharp pain in his elbows and knees,