"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 and get Teacher Han to the hospital!"
"Who knows if he broke anything? We can't move him carelessly. We should call the hospital!"
Han Aimin was jolted awake by the overlapping shouts. Opening his eyes, he found himself surrounded by familiar yet unfamiliar faces, 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 around forty breathed a sigh of relief and asked anxiously, "Aimin, are you all right?"
Unless he was dreaming, this man before him had to be Zhong Jianyu, his former colleague and big brother. He was a military cadre transferred to 985 Factory. 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 political studies teacher.
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 third sister's classmate from kindergarten through middle school. After graduating from high school, she had failed to get into college, so the factory had assigned her to the Children's Middle School as an English teacher. But she was neither a cadre nor a formal employee. She was a "Collective Worker," with salary and benefits 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 before Han Aimin's eyes.
The intense pain in