"The Sixth Set of Radio Exercises begins now. Stretching exercise, ready, begin! 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! Hurry and get Teacher Han to the hospital!"
"Who knows if he broke any bones? We can't move him carelessly. Better call the hospital!"
Han Aimin was jolted awake by the overlapping shouts. Opening his eyes, he saw familiar yet unfamiliar faces surrounding him, each looking more anxious than the last. Then a burning pain shot through his elbows and knees.
"Aimin's awake. Make some room." A man around forty breathed a sigh of relief and anxiously asked, "Aimin, are you all right?"
If this wasn't a dream, then the man before him should be his former colleague and big brother, Zhong Jianyu. He was a military cadre transferred to 985 Factory. Since he knew nothing about technology and the factory had no shortage of political cadres, he had been assigned to teach politics 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 nursery school through middle school. After graduating high school without getting into college, she had been assigned by the factory to teach English at the Children's Middle School. But she did not hold cadre status, nor was she a formal employee. She was a "collective worker," whose salary and benefits were a tier lower than 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 in front of Han Aimin's eyes.
The sharp pain in