Rain beat against the window, like countless tiny fingers drumming anxiously on the glass.
Ji Xiaosong clutched the edge of the kang bed, a violent contraction forcing her to double over.
The three little ones in her belly seemed desperate to enter the world. Every movement felt like a searing splash of molten steel.
"Aunt Zhang! Aunt Zhang!" she yelled toward the door, her voice mostly swallowed by the thunder.
Frantic footsteps sounded from outside. Her neighbor, Aunt Zhang, burst in wearing a straw rain cape, rainwater streaming down from her temples.
"Oh, my goodness, you're going into labor!" she said, fumbling to support Ji Xiaosong. "Where's Old Xu? Not back yet?"
Ji Xiaosong shook her head, biting her lip to stifle another wave of pain.
"Weidong said tonight... he had to oversee the final batch of experimental steel..."
Before she could finish, a muffled boom echoed in the distance, and the very ground beneath their feet trembled slightly.
