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! Hurry 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 first!"
Han Aimin was jolted awake by the overlapping cries. 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 room." A man of around forty visibly relaxed and hurriedly asked, "Aimin, are you all right?"
Unless he was dreaming, the man before him should be Zhong Jianyu, once his 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, he had been assigned to teach politics at the Children's Middle School.
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 his third sister's classmate from kindergarten through middle school. After graduating high school and failing to get into college, she had been assigned by the factory to teach English at the Children's Middle School. 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