Dad Song was startled by the sound of that explosive thunderclap.
He could keenly sense that this thunderclap sounded different from ordinary thunder. But if asked exactly how it was different, he couldn't put it into words.
In short, there was something strange about this thunderclap!
It wasn't just him. Mom Song felt the same way.
The husband and wife exchanged a knowing glance, each catching the surprise in the other's eyes. Then they both smiled faintly and quietly looked away.
"Lately, the Jiangnan Region has been like this. Explosive thunderclaps keep sounding for no apparent reason. But don't worry. It'll pass soon," Dad Song's friend explained. Over the past few months, these thunderclaps had been coming more frequently, and everyone had grown used to them.
Sure enough, just as Dad Song's friend had said, the explosive thunderclaps stopped after sounding a few times.
The friends, who hadn't gathered in a long while, resumed chatting about everything under the sun.
As they talked, the topic turned back to their children.
That was the price of the passing years. Once people reached a certain age, their children often became an important part of their lives, and conversations would circle back to them again and again.
The children of several of Dad Song and Mom Song's friends were a few years older than Song Shuhang and had reached the stage of discussing marriage.
And so, the topic naturally shifted to their children's marriages.
"Old Song, does your Shuhang have a girlfriend yet?" someone suddenly asked at the dinner table. "Back then, you pulled off quite the slick move and got yourself a wife while you were still in college. That boy Shuhang shouldn't be much worse than you in that department, right?"
"Hahaha, he should... be doing all right?" Dad Song himself