"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 whether he broke a bone? We can't move him carelessly. 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, each one 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 anxiously, "Aimin, are you okay?"
Unless he was dreaming, this man should be Zhong Jianyu, his former colleague and Big Brother. Zhong had transferred to 985 Factory after leaving the military. Since he knew nothing about technical work and the factory already had enough political cadres, they had assigned him to the Children's Middle School as a political teacher.
The young woman behind Zhong Jianyu, wearing a Floral Plaid Spring and Autumn Shirt, was surnamed Liu—Liu Pingping. She was both a 985 Factory Descendant and third sister's classmate from daycare through middle school. After graduating high school and failing to get into university, the factory had assigned her 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 grade 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 in front of Han Aimin's eyes.
The intense pain in his elbows and knees, those familiar faces before