"The Sixth Set of Radio Exercises begins now. 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 if he's broken any bones? 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 surrounding him, every one of them more anxious than the last. Then a searing pain shot through his elbows and knees.
"Aimin's awake. Make some room." A man around forty breathed a sigh of relief and asked urgently, "Aimin, are you all right?"
If this wasn't a dream, then the man before him should be his former colleague and big brother, Zhong Jianyu. He had transferred to 985 Factory after leaving the military. 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.
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 from high school and failing to get into college, she had been assigned to the Children's Middle School as an English teacher. But she wasn't classified as a cadre or a formal employee. She was a "Collective Worker," whose salary and benefits were a notch below those of formal employees...
"Aimin, look at my hand!" Not knowing what Han Aimin was thinking, Zhong Jianyu raised a finger and moved it before his eyes.
The sharp pain