Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 22: I’m Such an Idiot

That line—"What do you take me for?"—didn’t sound like a real question. It came out more like a sigh, full of self-pity and sarcasm.

Liang Yixuan couldn’t understand where all of Bian Xu’s resentment was coming from. He acted like he was the one who’d been wronged, like she was some heartless villain.

She gave him a puzzled look.

"If it’s something you didn’t care about, why would I tell you?"

"If you don’t tell me, how would you know I don’t care?"

"Is this your idea of caring? When those rumors hit the news, you didn’t even say a word."

Bian Xu’s throat moved slightly as he swallowed, his voice barely audible through clenched teeth: "If you didn’t care, why would I explain?"

Liang Yixuan opened her mouth, then stopped. She realized this whole conversation was going in circles.

What was she even doing, getting into this childish back-and-forth over things that had already happened?

She paused for a moment, then sighed.

"I just don’t see what the point of all this is anymore. Do you?"

Bian Xu choked on his words.

Liang Yixuan looked at him wearily.

"If the whole reason you joined this reality show was to argue about who was right and who was wrong, then let me save you the trouble—I was wrong, okay? All my fault. If that makes you feel better, then stop wasting your time here. Isn’t your time supposed to be so precious?"

Bian Xu lowered his eyes and said nothing, jaw tight with tension.

After a long silence, he finally gave a small nod and muttered to himself, "Yeah… I must be a damn idiot for wasting time here."

Liang Yixuan had never realized that arguing could make your brain feel completely fried.

She just stood there dazed, her mind blank for a long moment.

Bian Xu had already stormed off the second he finished that sentence, disappearing from view.

She turned her head, blinked rapidly, and waved a hand under her eyes to hold back the sting.

Her phone vibrated just in time to pull her out of it.

She dug it out of her bag and answered a voice call from Xiao Jie.

"Yixuan," Xiao Jie whispered mysteriously, "let me ask you something. Do you know a guy named Zhou Zirui?"

Liang Yixuan sniffled a little, steadied her voice, and said, "Yeah, he’s... he’s a friend of Bian Xu. Why?"

"So, he knows you, too?"

"Yeah..."

She had met Zhou Zirui the first weekend she spent at Bian Xu’s apartment.

That Monday morning, she’d come out of the bedroom and found Zhou Zirui chatting with Bian Xu on the balcony.

He’d looked at her and asked, ‘Girlfriend?’ To which Bian Xu had casually replied, ‘What else?’

She hadn’t known his name at the time.

She only learned it later, when she had a major performance at the dance center. Zhou Zirui had come to watch, and knowing her connection to Bian Xu, he sent flowers to her backstage afterward.

She’d had a pretty good impression of him because of that.

But Xiao Jie’s voice pulled her out of the memory.

"Okay, so it makes sense that you know him, and it makes sense that he knows you," Xiao Jie said. "But why does he know me?"

"He just walked into my café, and the moment he saw me, he said I looked familiar. I thought he was trying to flirt, but then a minute later he smacked his thigh and said, ‘I remember now! Aren’t you Liang Yixuan’s bestie?’ He said he’s friends with Bian Xu. Like, what the hell? Even Bian Xu never remembers who I am—how does his friend know me?"

Liang Yixuan was caught off guard. She thought about it but couldn’t remember any time Xiao Jie and Zhou Zirui might’ve met.

"I have no idea," she said, frowning. Then she looked up and saw Shen Ji walking back from talking to Zhang Daoguo. "I gotta go. Still filming. And hey, don’t get too close to that guy, who knows what kind of nonsense they’re up to."

"Please," Xiao Jie scoffed. "No one out-schemes me. I’m going over there right now."

Back at the café, Xiao Jie ended the call, pulled back the curtain from the kitchen, and walked out to see Zhou Zirui muttering "Shit" under his breath while staring at his phone.

She walked up to him.

"Hey, sir, is there something wrong with the coffee?"

Zhou Zirui looked up.

"Oh, no. The coffee’s fine. I just got blocked by that guy Bian."

Xiao Jie raised a brow.

"What happened to all that talk about being sworn brothers?"

Zhou Zirui looked confused too. He’d just tried calling Bian Xu to say he’d bumped into Liang Yixuan’s best friend, but no matter how many times he dialed, the call wouldn’t go through.

Then it hit him.

"Oh right—last night I teased him a bit. Damn, how can he take a few jokes so hard when it comes to Liang?"

Xiao Jie perked up and sat across from him, clearly interested.

"Wait, he can’t take jokes? Spill it. I’ll comp your afternoon tea."

Zhou Zirui hesitated.

"What do you take me for, a guy who sells out his bro for coffee?"

"I’m on your side," Xiao Jie wiggled her eyebrows. "I’ve been trying to get those two back together."

"For real?"

Xiao Jie sighed.

"Yeah. I mean, the guy’s chasing her all the way onto a reality show. Even I was moved."

"Right?! Right?!" Zhou Zirui smacked his thigh. "You’re not the only one! Even a guy like me was touched! We’re all touched—by the heavens, the earth, each other—but the only one who isn’t touched is Liang!"

"I know, right?" Xiao Jie rubbed her forehead. "I really don’t get what’s so wrong with Bian Xu."

"Exactly! The guy’s good in bed and low-maintenance—perfect for a no-strings-attached kind of relationship, right?"

Xiao Jie froze.

"…Come again?"

"Oh—uh, sorry. Guy talk. Got a bit crude. Don’t take it personally."

"I’m not offended," she said, waving it off. "You can go ahead and be more crude. But do explain—who exactly is looking for a casual hookup?"

"Liang, of course," Zhou Zirui glanced at her. "No need to cover for your bestie. I’m open-minded. We’re all adults. She’s an artist. I get it."

Xiao Jie nearly cursed.

"Where the hell did you hear that garbage?"

"I heard it with my own ears!"

She paused: "When?"

"Which month was it again? Oh, just before Lunar New Year—early January, I think. It was backstage at the South Bar performance. Didn’t she tell you herself? She said she was dating just to experience physical intimacy, and that one of her teachers said it would help improve her body expression in dance... Ring any bells? Isn’t that basically just another way of saying ‘friends with benefits’?"

Xiao Jie froze in her seat like she’d been struck by lightning.

No wonder Zhou Zirui recognized her.

"...Don’t tell me," she swallowed hard, "you told Bian Xu about this?"

"Of course I didn’t go stirring up drama like that—"

Xiao Jie had just started to relax when she heard the second half of Zhou Zirui’s sentence: "He was there when she said it."

"..."

Goddammit, that’s even worse than gossiping!

"Wait, what was he doing backstage?"

"Bringing flowers to Liang Yixuan, obviously. There were some big political figures in the audience that day—leaders or something—and she looked super nervous."

"And the flowers?"

"Well, after hearing that, what flowers? He just left right away. I ended up giving them to her so they wouldn’t go to waste."

Xiao Jie tried to stay calm.

"Don’t tell me... After all this time, he’s never brought it up with Yixuan?"

"How would I know what couples do in private? But with his personality, I’m telling you, he probably won’t bring it up in half a lifetime, let alone half a year."

"Unbelievable. Completely ridiculous!"

Xiao Jie shook her head in disbelief.

"If you don’t ask someone directly, how do you know they weren’t just saying something they didn’t mean?"

"Come on, he overheard it. Most guys can’t handle something like that. And he’s not most guys. Plus, it’s not like she was saying it to strangers—she was talking to you, her best friend. Why would she lie?"

Meanwhile, in the parking lot at the dance center...

Bian Xu got into the driver’s seat and dialed Lu Yuan.

"Boss! What’s up?" Lu Yuan’s cheerful voice came through the speaker.

"Aren’t you supposed to be filming right now? Didn’t you bribe Duan Ye for that date segment? Don’t tell me you got shut down by Miss Liang again? Look, man, getting shut down just takes getting used to—"

Bian Xu, unusually quiet, didn’t interrupt.

It wasn’t clear if his temper had just been worn down recently, or if he’d already burned through all his anger earlier and had none left.

He stayed silent until Lu Yuan noticed something was off and stopped talking.

Finally, Bian Xu rubbed his forehead and said hoarsely: "Book me a flight."

"Huh? Where to?"

"Amsterdam. Back to the island. As soon as possible—the earliest one you can find."

Lu Yuan seemed like he was about to ask something else, but Bian Xu had already hung up.

He tossed his phone onto the passenger seat. The car went quiet. But in his mind, Liang Yixuan’s words kept playing over and over.

He used to hear Zhou Zirui say that when women argue, they love digging up old issues, that their logic flies all over the place, and that they’re impossible to reason with. But he had never experienced Liang Yixuan being "unreasonable"—not until now.

Because aside from in bed, she had always been calm—so calm she felt like still water. Every emotion she had seemed weightless. It was like he never really mattered to her.

But today, for once, he saw her lose her cool—saw her push back, argue fiercely—and yet, it was the same day she told him to leave her life.

And it was also today, when he finally lowered himself enough to ask, "What do you take me for?", that he had to admit, whether he liked it or not—

He’d never been the one in control. She had.

He should’ve known long ago what real power in a relationship looks like.

So many critics and elite musicians had picked apart his music and performance. He never argued back, never defended himself—he didn’t have to.

Because he was confident. Because he had nothing to prove.

But in this relationship—

The moment he started pulling back after overhearing that one painful line...

The moment Lu Yuan kept urging him to clear up the rumors and he chose silence instead...

The moment he let himself show up in front of her like some untouchable figure, even after being dumped...

That wasn’t confidence.

That was him trying to prove he still had control—when deep down, he knew he didn’t.

True confidence never needs proving.

All the harsh words, the fake indifference, the playing it cool—it was all just a front.

Pretending not to care, while caring far too much.

Bian Xu leaned back in his seat, one hand on the steering wheel, eyes shut.

He suddenly remembered a line from《Of Human Bondage》, the book he’d pulled from his shelf last night when he couldn’t sleep: “The greatest torment in the world is to love someone while also feeling contempt for them.”

And his torment—

It had started the moment he thought he held all the power.