Three Spiders in the Same Frame (Part 2)

"Aimin, Aimin, wake up!"

"Teacher Han! Teacher Han!"

"Stop shouting! Hurry and take Teacher Han to the hospital!"

"Who knows whether he broke any bones? Don't move him carelessly. We should call the hospital!"

Han Aimin was jolted awake by the overlapping cries. Opening his eyes, he saw familiar yet unfamiliar faces gathered around 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 in his forties sighed in relief and asked urgently, "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 was a military cadre transferred to 985 Factory after leaving the service. 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.

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 second sister's classmate from kindergarten through middle school. After graduating high school, she had failed to get into college, so the factory had assigned her 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 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 sharp pain in his elbows and knees, the familiar faces before him, and the familiar melody of the Sixth Set of Radio Exercises outside made Han Aimin realize this was