The atmosphere in the living room was heavy.
18-year-old Xiaoyu lowers her head and says softly to her mother: “Mom... I haven’t had my period for two months.”
The cup in Mother's hand almost shattered as she instantly shouted angrily: 'Which idiot did this to you?! Tell me! Tell me right now!'
Xiaoyu didn't say anything, just silently picked up the phone, dialed a number, said a few brief words, and hung up.
Half an hour later, the sound of an engine came from outside. A brand-new red Ferrari pulled steadily up in front of the house. The car door opened, and a mature, extraordinary man got out—his suit was crisp, his blond hair combed impeccably, a luxury watch on his wrist, his whole person radiating the composure of a successful man.
He walked into the living room and nodded to Xiaoyu's parents: "Good morning. Your daughter told me she has a problem. But I can't marry her, because I'm already married. However, I will take responsibility."
He paused, then began stating the conditions:
"If she gives birth to a girl, I will give her three shops, two villas, and one million.
If a boy is born, I will give her two companies and one million.
If twins are born, I will give each of them a factory and five hundred thousand.
"What if there isn't..."
The father, who had remained silent all along, suddenly stood up.
He strode forward, firmly grabbed the man’s shoulder, his eyes frighteningly bright, and solemnly said:
"Don't go.
"Just sleep with my daughter for one more night."
The living room instantly fell into dead silence.
Mother's expression shifted from anger to astonishment, then to a complex speechlessness. Xiao Yu covered her face, unsure whether to cry or laugh. The Ferrari man was completely frozen, mouth slightly agape, clearly not expecting the negotiation to be interrupted in this way.
Father continued, his tone as serious as if discussing business: 'Once might not be accurate enough. Try again. What if it's twins this time? One more factory is one more factory.'
The man slowly withdrew his shoulder, straightened his suit, remained silent for several seconds, and finally managed to squeeze out only one sentence:
"...I'll go first."
He left almost as if fleeing, and the Ferrari engine sound quickly disappeared around the end of the street.
After the door closed, my mother finally exploded: 'Are you crazy?! What are you thinking?!'
Father spread his hands, looking completely matter-of-fact: 'I was thinking about the family's future. Didn't you hear? Twins mean two factories directly. A rare opportunity.'
Xiaoyu looked up at her father, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Dad, your logic... I'm speechless."
From that day on, this matter became a taboo joke that absolutely could not be mentioned outside the family. Only on the rarest late nights, when my parents were arguing or joking, would my mother suddenly blurt out:
"Sleep one more night? Why don't you let him sleep ten more nights and aim for octuplets?"
Father would fall silent, then mutter softly: "Back then, I was serious..."
And when Xiao Yu later told this experience to her close friends, she always received uproarious laughter lasting a full minute. Everyone unanimously commented:
"Your dad is the real business genius. Others think about how to solve problems; he thinks about how to maximize problems into gains."
This absurd morning ultimately became the family's most unwillingly mentioned, yet most unforgettable, shared memory.
After the Ferrari man fled, no one in the family voluntarily brought up the events of that day for a full three days.
Mother was so angry she smashed two bowls in the kitchen, while Father pretended to read the newspaper nonchalantly, occasionally stealing glances at their daughter's expression. Xiao Yu locked herself in her room, both embarrassed and devastated, repeatedly recalling Father's serious expression when he said 'sleep one more night,' the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to laugh, yet also felt increasingly powerless.
On the morning of the fourth day, Mother finally couldn't hold back and exploded:
"Then explain it clearly! You said that kind of thing in front of your daughter—have you lost your mind?"
Father put down the newspaper, cleared his throat, and tried to reason:
"At the time I was assessing the risks and benefits. Think about it: if I really hadn't gotten pregnant, trying again would just increase the chance of success, wouldn't it? Twins means two factories right away; where are you going to find conditions like that?"
Mother pointed at his nose angrily: 'When you assessed the benefits, did you assess your daughter's feelings? Did you assess our family's dignity?'
Xiaoyu heard everything clearly in her room and simply opened the door to come out, looking helpless: "Dad, can you please stop analyzing? After hearing what you said, that person probably won't come within ten kilometers of our house for the rest of their life."
Father rubbed his nose and muttered quietly: '...Actually, I think my plan shows quite a business sense.'
Mother directly picked up a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him.
A week later, Xiaoyu went to the hospital for an examination. After the results came out, she placed the report in front of her parents:
"Not pregnant."
Mother first breathed a sigh of relief, then began to scold Father again. However, the moment Father confirmed the result, his eyes visibly darkened, as if genuinely regretting the loss of 'two factories.'
Looking at her father's expression, Xiaoyu didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Dad, are you actually a little disappointed?"
Father coughed twice: "No, no. Health is most important. Factories and such are secondary."
Even though he said that, that night he drank a little and talked to himself in the mirror: 'Twins... the factory... what a pity.'
After this incident, a new tacit understanding was reached at home: any topic involving 'compensation,' 'factory,' or 'one more time' would be instantly killed by a look from mother. But whenever relatives or friends mentioned 'any good news in your family lately,' father would always subconsciously sigh, as if missing out on a huge life deal.
Half a year later, Xiaoyu got a new boyfriend. The first time he was brought home for dinner, Father was exceptionally enthusiastic, constantly asking about the other person’s job, income, whether he had a company, and whether he had a factory.
Mother stomped hard on his foot under the table.
The new boyfriend was asked and looked completely confused, while Xiaoyu kept her head down and ate vigorously throughout, her ears as red as if they were about to drip blood.
After seeing off her boyfriend, the mother sternly warned, 'If you dare look at a potential son-in-law with that kind of gaze again, you'll be sleeping on the sofa.'
Father raised his hands in surrender: "Alright, alright, I won't ask anymore. It's just... what if there's a chance in the future?"
Mother was completely speechless.
A few years later, when Xiao Yu got married, her father gave a speech at the wedding. He had originally prepared a normal blessing, but on the spot he improvised and suddenly blurted out:
“I hope you’ll be happy in the future, and the child healthy... ideally twins.”
The scene was stunned for a moment, then erupted in good-natured laughter. Only the mother at the main table was glaring daggers at him with her eyes, while Xiaoyu was covering her face and giggling beside the groom.
After the wedding, Xiao Yu specifically walked to her father's side and whispered, 'Dad, you really can't change.'
Father smiled and patted her shoulder: 'If you can't change it, then you can't. At least after that time, I understood one thing—some opportunities, once missed, are gone. But it's also nice that the family can laugh about it together.'
Xiaoyu nodded and didn't say anything more.
Later on, whenever someone at a family gathering asked, “What’s the most outrageous thing in your family?”, Xiaoyu would exchange a glance with her mother, then tacitly shake their heads: “It’s not convenient to say.”
Only Father, after getting drunk, would secretly tell the whole story of “Ferrari, the factory, sleep one more night” to his closest old friend. After he finished, the friends all laughed without exception, and unanimously commented:
"That logic is amazing. Too bad that man ran off too fast."
Father always shook his head regretfully: "Yes, ran away too fast. Otherwise, we really could have talked more."
And Xiao Yu herself wrote this experience into her private diary. Every few years when she flipped through it, she would still laugh out loud. She later had her own children and occasionally wondered: if her daughter encountered something similar in the future, would she, like her mother, first scold angrily, or like her father, first calculate the benefits?
She herself wasn't sure of the answer.
But there was one thing she was certain of—that the most absurd morning in this family eventually became the strongest shared joke between them. It reminded everyone: sometimes life suddenly throws down a ridiculous opportunity, and what truly decides how you respond is often not the opportunity itself, but the most genuine thought deep in your bones.
Some want to solve problems, some want to maximize profits.
And in this home, both happened and were forever recorded.
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