"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 and get Teacher Han to the hospital!"
"Who knows if he broke a bone? We can'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 some room." A man in his forties breathed a sigh of relief and asked anxiously, "Aimin, are you all right?"
Unless he was dreaming, the man before him had to be Zhong Jianyu, his former 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, they had assigned him 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—Liu Pingping. She was both a 985 Factory descendant and third sister's classmate from nursery school through middle school. After graduating from high school without getting into college, the factory assigned her to the Children's Middle School as an English teacher. 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!" Not knowing what Han Aimin was thinking, Zhong Jianyu raised a finger and moved it before his eyes.
The sharp pain in his elbows and knees, the familiar faces