"The 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!"
"Teacher Han! Teacher Han!"
"Stop shouting and get Teacher Han to the hospital!"
"Who knows if he broke a bone? Don'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 looking 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 all right?"
Unless he was dreaming, the man before him should have been Zhong Jianyu, once both his colleague and big brother figure. 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 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 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. However, she had neither cadre status nor formal employee status. She was a "Collective Worker," with salary and benefits one tier below those of formal employees...
"Aimin, look at my hand!" Not knowing what Han Aimin was thinking, Zhong Jianyu raised his fingers and moved them before his eyes.
The sharp pain in his elbows and knees, the familiar faces before him,