"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 if he broke any bones? We can't move him around. 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 more anxious than the last. Then a searing pain shot through his elbows and knees.
"Aimin's awake. Make room." A man in his forties breathed a sigh 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 had transferred from the military to 985 Factory. Since he knew nothing about technology and the factory had no shortage of political cadres, he had been assigned to the Children's Middle School as a political science 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, she had failed to get into college, so the factory had assigned her 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!" Zhong Jianyu had no idea what Han Aimin was thinking. He raised a finger and moved it back and forth before Han Aimin's eyes.
The stabbing pain in his elbows