"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 shouts. Opening his eyes, he saw familiar yet unfamiliar faces gathered around him, every one of them 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 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, his former colleague and Big Brother. A military cadre transferred to 985 Factory after leaving the service, Zhong had been assigned to teach politics at the Children's Middle School because he knew nothing about technical work and the factory had no shortage of political cadres.
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 nursery school through middle school. After graduating from high school and failing to get 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.