"The Sixth Set of Radio Exercises now begins. Stretching exercise, ready, begin! 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's broken any bones? We can't move him around. 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 urgently asked, "Aimin, are you all right?"
Unless he was dreaming, the man before him should be Zhong Jianyu, once both his colleague and big brother. He was a military cadre transferred to 985 Factory after leaving the service. Since he knew nothing about technical work and the factory had no shortage of political cadres, he had been assigned 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, and her name was 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 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 in front of