Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 20: Mr. Bian Has Run Away From Home!

The atmosphere at the dining table suddenly froze—like even the air had turned solid and stopped moving.

In the now-silent living room, the only sound left was the dog snoring quietly at the feet of Liang Yixuan and Bian Xu, steady and unbothered.

Liang Yixuan lowered her gaze, wanting to say something to break the awkwardness, but her mind was a complete mess.

She couldn’t help but find it ironic—if someone on a forum asked, "What’s it like to find out you were your ex-boyfriend’s first love—after breaking up?", well... she was finally qualified to answer. It was bittersweet and more than a little absurd.

She had grown up under strict rules from her mother—no dating until she became principal dancer. She’d always been naive about love, and without a father figure in her life, she’d never learned how to interact with men. Her relationship with Bian Xu had always felt awkward and uneasy.

She never felt secure with him, so she never even thought to ask about his dating history.

Most girls would sweetly ask questions like that with no problem—but she just couldn’t.

When she said there was nothing worth remembering about their relationship, it wasn’t because nothing happened—it was because she didn’t want to remember the version of herself that was insecure, desperate, and constantly afraid of losing him.

She kept her head down, silent. Bian Xu, meanwhile, was angry—but showed none of it.

Cheng Nuo, who was well aware of the situation, felt more embarrassed than the two people actually involved. She nervously glanced across the table at Shen Ji, silently asking for help.

Shen Ji got the hint and smiled at Bian Xu.

"Mr. Bian, you’re so classy. Even someone like me who’s always at social events feels a bit ashamed in comparison."

Bian Xu forced a tight-lipped smile. "You’re too kind. I just happened to be thirsty."

Cheng Nuo quickly picked up the cue and handed him another beer.

"Haha, well if you’re thirsty, drink up! There’s plenty more."

"Thanks."

Bian Xu lifted his eyebrows slightly, straightened his shirt, and gestured for everyone to keep going with the game.

Cheng Nuo could tell that Liang Yixuan wasn’t in the mood to continue, so she spun the bottle for her.

After the fiery start, things finally calmed down.

Pan Yu drew a harmless truth card, and both Cheng Nuo and Lin Xiao Sheng were picked too. For the sake of entertainment, they chose dares—drinking soy sauce, doing push-ups—silly stuff that lightened the mood.

The production team wanted everyone to have a turn, and since Shen Ji and Duan Ye hadn’t gone yet, the bottle kept spinning.

A couple more rounds passed, and it finally landed on Duan Ye.

Yawning, he picked a truth card.

Cheng Nuo raised her hand immediately. "Can I ask the question? I’ve really been dying to know something."

"Go ahead."

Cheng Nuo took a dramatic breath.

"Duan Ye, you spend all your time here eating, sleeping, or dragging Xiao Sheng off to play video games. That one time you did go out, it was to the garage to fix a car—and you made me sit on a tiny stool all day watching you tinker with a wrench! So seriously... why are you even on this show?"

Sure, she herself joined the show to experience life for scriptwriting, but Duan Ye was a spoiled rich kid. Did he really need reality TV?

Duan Ye scratched his head.

"Well… my credit cards got frozen."

"…"

Ah. That explained why this fancy rich guy went along with everything the production team said.

Pan Yu laughed. "So all your votes in the daily popularity poll—those were just random?"

Except for the one time the production team made him vote for Pan Yu, Duan Ye voted for Liang Yixuan every single day, even if it was just giving a thumbs up.

Pan Yu’s question now made it seem like Liang Yixuan’s popularity wasn’t so genuine.

"Eh," Duan Ye shrugged. "Pretty much…"

Just as Pan Yu smirked at Liang Yixuan, Duan Ye added, "I mean, I just vote for the best-looking one."

"…."

With two people at the table saying whatever they pleased, no one knew what disaster would strike next.

Even Shen Ji couldn’t smooth that one over. He cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"Okay, I think I’m the last one. We’re all hungry, so let’s skip the bottle. I’ll go straight ahead."

He reached for a truth card, but Cheng Nuo stopped him and pointed at the dare pile instead.

"You’re too good at talking—truths are too easy for you. Try a dare!"

Shen Ji, always a gentleman, smiled and agreed.

He picked a dare card and read aloud: "Drink a cross-arm toast (linked-arm drink) with the closest member of the opposite sex to your left."

Everyone turned their heads—first to Bian Xu, who was sitting to Shen Ji’s left…

Then to the left of Bian Xu, where Liang Yixuan sat.

Liang Yixuan blinked at the seating arrangement and quietly pointed to herself. She caught Cheng Nuo’s eye across the table: Me?

Cheng Nuo nodded.

"…."

Bian Xu’s face turned dark.

Cheng Nuo, who had watched Bian Xu personally pick this exact seat earlier, had to admit—he kind of set himself up.

He’d spent all that time strategizing seating, only to hand his ex-girlfriend straight into a dare involving another man.

Just as Shen Ji turned to ask Liang Yixuan if she was okay with the dare, Bian Xu stepped in front of her, grabbed a beer can, and said to Shen Ji: "Here. Let’s do it."

Liang Yixuan: "…"

Cheng Nuo nearly got bamboozled but quickly raised the card: "Hey, Mr. Bian! It says someone of the opposite sex… You’re a guy, remember?"

Bian Xu shot her a chilly look.

Cheng Nuo muttered under her breath, "Respect the rules of the game, man…"

Leaning back in his chair, Bian Xu said to Shen Ji, "Fine. Ask her if she’s willing."

Shen Ji turned to Liang Yixuan with a polite smile.

"If you’re not comfortable, I’ll just take the penalty."

Liang Yixuan was so fed up with Bian Xu’s smug attitude, she turned past him and said directly to Shen Ji, "I’m fine with it."

Bian Xu’s head whipped toward her, eyes locked.

She met his gaze calmly.

After three seconds, Bian Xu gave a stiff nod, pushed back his chair, and walked upstairs without a word.

The production crew had been suffering from content drought when Liang Yixuan was away.

Without her, Bian Xu had no interest in giving the cameras anything, and the directors were bored stiff in the control room.

Now, the moment the two of them came back—it was pure chaos.

And now they had a new problem: If we air this, are we gonna get cancelled? How do we spin this into something "viewer-friendly" again?

Liang Yixuan didn’t hesitate at all and smoothly completed the cross-arm toast with Shen Ji.

But now that there was an empty seat at the dinner table, and with no way to magically edit Bian Xu back in, the directors watching from the monitor room figured: whatever’s going on between Bian Xu and Liang Yixuan, it’s getting too obvious to hide from the other guests. They might as well come up with a decent explanation for the audience.

So, they had Cheng Nuo and Lin Xiao Sheng act as the go-betweens and filmed a little cover-up conversation before dinner officially started—

Lin Xiao Sheng: "Huh? Where did Mr. Bian go? Wasn’t he just here?"

Cheng Nuo: "Oh, he got a call. Sounds like something work-related came up last minute."

With Bian Xu gone, dinner was surprisingly peaceful and harmonious.

Afterward, Liang Yixuan and Shen Ji cleared the dishes together, tucked a sleeping Peach upstairs, and then headed to the yoga room for their regular cardio session.

Later, after a shower, Liang Yixuan was in her room when she got another call from Director Liu.

The moment Liu Peng spoke, his voice was full of panic: "Ms. Liang, this is bad—Mr. Bian’s run away from home!"

"…?"

Liang Yixuan was thrown by his choice of words. It took her a moment to process.

Liu Peng quickly explained: "According to the monitors, he drove off about an hour ago. We’re about to record the messaging segment, and we haven’t been able to contact him at all. I even called his assistant, Xiao Lu, but he said once Mr. Bian disappears, no one can find him. What do we do…?"

"He’s right," Liang Yixuan replied flatly.

"Huh?"

In the entertainment industry, people are pros at turning a blind eye. Even when everyone knows the truth, they’ll pretend nothing’s wrong and keep smiling. Until now, Liu Peng had never openly brought up Liang Yixuan and Bian Xu’s relationship. But at this point, he had no choice.

"You really have no idea where he might be? I mean, if you wanted to find him, I’m sure you could…"

"I don’t," Liang Yixuan said as she rubbed her temples, then took a deep breath and continued as politely as she could, "Director Liu, please don’t put this on me. Honestly, the fact that he stayed with the show for a whole week was already a miracle. I don’t even know what he’s trying to pull lately…"

"Anyway, this whole ‘running away from home’ act is basically his default setting. I know he’s caused a lot of trouble for the production team lately, but I’m a victim too. I’m not responsible for him, and I don’t have the energy or obligation to clean up after him. You should start preparing for the worst."

All hope gone, Liu Peng was left speechless on the other end of the call.

The next night at 8 PM, the fourth episode of the show aired as scheduled.

To avoid revealing the past between Liang Yixuan and Bian Xu, the show edited out the part during the game where Liang Yixuan drew the "When was your first love?" card. They only kept the footage of Bian Xu revealing his own answer.

Aside from the group game, most of Liang Yixuan’s scenes this episode featured Peach. One showed her and Bian Xu feeding the dog together; another had her walking the dog with Shen Ji.

This editing shift helped viewers cool off after last week’s debate about Bian Xu’s "character," and the audience began to focus on the show’s romance again, comparing the two potential pairings.

Because Liang Yixuan’s attitude toward Bian Xu and Shen Ji was so obviously different, someone online posed the question: "Would you rather laugh in Shen Ji’s Porsche or cry in Bian Xu’s Bugatti?"

The sugary fan posts started to include more grounded perspectives——

「Obviously pick Boss Shen! Liang Yixuan looks so relaxed and natural around him!」

「People who say that clearly haven’t been in a real relationship. Trust this older sister—if it’s too comfortable, that’s not love. The kind of sparks you see with Bian Xu, that’s romance.」

「…Come on. You think the way Bian Xu and Liang Yixuan are going, they wouldn’t end up divorced even if they did get married?」

「You can work on compatibility, but if the spark’s not there, it’s just not there. I still support Mr. Bian ^_^」

At the rooftop bar of East Plaza’s 66th floor, Zhou Zirui was lounging with a tablet, laughing at the fan debates.

"Based on my super precise calculations, you and that Shen Ji guy are neck and neck in the polls. It’s a real tug-of-war situation!"

From across the table came a dry snort: "If you’ve got this much free time, maybe check if your restaurant’s even breaking even this month."

"Hey, I’m just trying to give you a strategy breakdown. Why are you attacking me?"

Zhou Zirui rolled his eyes at Bian Xu, then retaliated with a jab of his own, pointing at the cigarette halfway burnt between Bian Xu’s fingers.

"How many of those have you smoked since last night? Your ex is really giving your lungs a workout."

Bian Xu shot him a cold glare but didn’t respond.

Zhou Zirui just chuckled and sighed, "Lucky for you, I’m the only one in the business who knows about you and Miss Liang. Otherwise, you’d be a laughingstock. All she wanted back then was to explore, you know, boost her emotional expression or whatever for her acting—and you…"

"Zhou Zirui." Bian Xu cut him off, snuffing out his cigarette. "How many times have you brought up that ancient history?"

Zhou started counting on his fingers.

"Uh… two times? Or was it three?"

"Try for a fourth and see what happens."

Bian Xu said it word by word, picked up his suit jacket, and walked into the elevator.

The space fell quiet until—buzz—his phone vibrated.

A message from Lu Yuan:「qaq Boss, you've been ‘missing’ for 24 hours now… please come back! The production team is about ready to give up on you!」

Bian Xu picked up his phone and replied with a voice message: "Enunciate properly when you talk."

Reception inside the elevator was poor. When the doors opened with a ding, more messages loaded:「Sorry, Boss. Been online too much lately, my brain’s cooked. Go check trending topics—the show didn’t promote your storyline with Miss Liang this week. Instead, they’re hyping #MemoryCPWineToast. If you don’t come back soon, even the show’s siding against you.」

The autumn wind rushed through the hallway.

Bian Xu stood at the exit for a full thirty seconds, then walked out.

A silver Bugatti sliced through the night, speeding toward the northern suburbs.

At half past ten, he pulled up in front of the villa. Director Liu and the crew were huddled under the eaves, discussing plans for the weekend date recordings.

When they heard the car engine, Liu Peng pushed through the crowd and ran over in shock: "Mr. Bian? You’re back?!"

Bian Xu gave a faint smile. "When did I ever say I wasn’t coming back?"

"Ms. Liang told us to prepare for… your funeral—"

Bian Xu’s brow shot up.

"No no," Liu Peng stammered, "She meant clean up after you! And we’ve already planned out the whole weekend schedule…"

Bian Xu raised an eyebrow.

"Planned out?"

Liu scratched his head, a little awkward.

"Yeah… we just finished filming the segment where the male guests pick their date locations. With three guys and three girls, it worked out neatly. Mr. Bian, you… uh, weren’t in the count."