Himmel Troubled by Wild Thoughts

"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!"

"Mr. Han! Mr. Han!"

"Stop shouting and get Mr. Han to the hospital!"

"Who knows if he broke a bone? 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 one more anxious than the last. Then a searing pain shot through his elbows and knees.

"Aimin's awake. Make room," said a man around forty, visibly relieved. He anxiously asked, "Aimin, are you all right?"

If this wasn't a dream, then the man before him had to be Zhong Jianyu, his former colleague and big brother. He had transferred out of the military to 985 Factory. Since he knew nothing about technology and the factory had no shortage of political cadres, they had assigned him 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 high school and failing to get into college, she had been assigned to the Children's Middle School as an English teacher. But she had neither cadre status nor formal employee status; 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 before Han Aimin's eyes.

The stabbing pain in his elbows and knees, the familiar faces before