Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 3: A Fool Who Returns is Priceless

After more than ten hours of flight, Liang Yixuan arrived at the airport in the western suburbs of Nanhuai City at 6 a.m.

Due to her Achilles tendonitis, Liang Yixuan had been upgraded from economy to business class at Qin He’s arrangement. She was among the first to disembark, collected her luggage, and walked out alone.

While waiting for her ride at Gate 3, Qin He caught up with her: "Yixuan, no one’s here to pick you up? Why don’t you come with me? My husband will be here soon."

Having just crossed the sea and rushed through another long flight, Liang Yixuan was physically exhausted and struggling with basic social interactions. She just wanted to get into a taxi and be left alone. However, Qin He’s enthusiasm was hard to refuse, so she lied, "It’s alright, Teacher Qin. My friend will be here soon."

"Is it your boyfriend?"

"No," Liang Yixuan smiled awkwardly. "It's my roommate from Guangzhou."

Qin He seemed to be thinking deeply for a moment, then nodded, "I’m not suggesting anything, but I’ve been asking about this because a variety show reached out to the dance troupe. From what I see, you’re the most suitable. You have a great image, are tactful, and have strong professional skills. You won’t tarnish Nanba’s reputation. The only issue is that the show wants participants who are single."

Liang Yixuan shook her head, "Teacher Qin, I just want to focus on dancing. Please, give this opportunity to someone else."

Qin He probably thought that after hearing this, Liang Yixuan would at least ask about the variety show.

"Kids these days, so many of them are too superficial. They see their careers stalling, and they’re desperate to become influencers or enter the entertainment industry. But you, so stubborn, sticking to the practice room and never getting out to see the world."

"Last year, Director Cao said it: You’re a ballet dancer, and casting isn’t just about your dancing skills. It’s also about your acting, about whether you fit the role. At your age, you don’t have much experience, and you’re just locked away in your own little world. How are you going to take on those big roles in the future?"

Liang Yixuan lowered her eyes, "I know."

"I’m not criticizing you, just reminding you that sharpening your tools doesn’t delay your work. Enriching your life will help you break through your bottleneck..."

Just then, a black sedan stopped in front of them.

Qin He quickly said goodbye to Liang Yixuan, "My husband’s here. Take care, Yixuan. Remember to go to the hospital to check on your Achilles tendon this weekend. Let me know right away what the situation is. If you need treatment or rest, don’t stress about it."

Liang Yixuan nodded. After the car drove off, she bent down to rub her aching calf and sighed softly.

By the time she got to the apartment, it was already 8 a.m. As soon as she brought her suitcase inside, she collapsed onto the floor.

"Congratulations to Nanba’s principal soloist, Ms. Liang Yixuan, on the successful completion of the tour..." Xiao Jie heard the noise and ran out, her hand shaking as she held the bouquet, "What happened?"

She quickly set the lilies aside in the foyer, helped Liang Yixuan up, and noticed that her forehead was covered in cold sweat, and her face was as white as paper.

"Is your Achilles tendonitis flaring up? Why didn’t you let me come pick you up? Why are you being so polite with me?" Xiao Jie helped her to the sofa in the living room.

Liang Yixuan sat down, pressing her right heel to ease the dull pain, "…You didn’t answer your phone."

Xiao Jie froze for a moment, glancing at the phone on the coffee table, "My bad. I didn’t pay attention because I was doing my makeup. Without you helping me, I couldn’t get my eyeliner right! Do you want me to make you a foot bath?"

Liang Yixuan nodded. When Xiao Jie brought the foot bath, she submerged her legs into the warm medicinal water, and it felt like she could finally breathe again.

"You look awful." Xiao Jie sat beside her, shaking her head.

Liang Yixuan gently moved her ankle joint, "B-angle injured her back during the last performance. Her condition isn’t better than mine, but she still pushed through and did one more scene before this happened."

"I’m not just talking about that." Xiao Jie lifted her phone in front of Liang Yixuan, "What’s going on with Bei Ying? I thought she had a good reputation. Does she have any professionalism as an idol? Her studio just clarified the rumors, but right after, she liked Bian Xue’s post sharing 《Rosabella》. What’s the point of clarifying if she’s doing this?"

On her way back to the apartment, Liang Yixuan had also seen the news on Weibo.

After the ROF studio made their clarification, most of the fans who had resisted the relationship rumors accepted the explanation. However, Bei Ying’s subsequent actions stirred up quite a bit of controversy again.

Although Bei Ying quickly canceled her like, sharp-eyed netizens still managed to take screenshots.

Most of the career-focused fans either trusted her or comforted themselves, assuming it was just a simple mistake. But this also led to a wave of CP (Couple Pairing) fans among the general public.

Xiao Jie slammed the coffee table: "If you're not in the industry, you wouldn't know. With rumors like these, a lot of fans don’t care how the studio clarifies things. Fans who ship a couple go by their own beliefs: 'I think, therefore I am.' As long as I run fast enough, the ending won’t catch me!"

Liang Yixuan pressed her lips down and bent over to stir the hot water in the foot bath.

"Bei Ying’s actions only made things worse. Those couple fans will definitely take the bait and start imagining a tragic love story—‘The studio is trying to break them up with their clarifications, but the leading lady silently resists by liking the leading man’s love song.’"

Seeing that Liang Yixuan remained silent, Xiao Jie glanced at her: "Hey, I’m here all worked up as if I’m the one being cheated on, and you, the person involved, don’t seem angry at all?"

Liang Yixuan slowly blinked twice, furrowing her brows: "Can’t you tell? I’m really angry."

"?" Xiao Jie studied her facial expression, "That’s it?"

"When I’m angry, I look like this..."

"Wasn’t that the same expression you had when my ex came by last time? All awkward?"

"..." Liang Yixuan thought for a moment, "Maybe."

Xiao Jie twitched her mouth: "Alright, let’s get to the main point. Does Bian Xue's song have anything to do with Bei Ying?"

Liang Yixuan shook her head: "I don’t know."

"You didn’t ask Bian Xue?"

"In the past couple of years, after a performance, I sometimes get flowers," Liang Yixuan looked at the lilies in the foyer, "But they’re either lilies or daisies. It seems like no one has ever sent me roses."

The lead female character in《Rosabella》was compared to a rose. But Liang Yixuan, with her quiet personality, seemed nothing like a rose.

Besides, the song was released three years ago, when Liang Yixuan was still an unknown in Nanba, and Bian Xue didn’t even know her back then.

So why bother making things awkward?

Since that Rosabella wasn’t about her, what did it matter if it was A, B, or C?

It took Xiao Jie a moment to understand what Liang Yixuan meant, and she rolled her eyes: "Who told me that dating was all about sacrificing for art? I can see you're clearly interested in Bian Xue."

Liang Yixuan paused for a moment, recalling the event.

Last fall, Nanba invited a veteran ballet master to guide the troupe's new play.

After seeing her performance, Master Cao privately told Qin He that the young girl was always calm, whether angry or happy. On stage, she lacked emotional intensity, like a fairy without emotions. She was beautiful, but lacked the depth to move people’s hearts. It was a pity given her solid basic skills.

Qin He asked if it was too late to cultivate that emotional side.

Master Cao smiled and said, "You can cultivate her temper? Why not try letting her fall in love? Maybe that will help."

At that time, Liang Yixuan had been fetching her pointe shoes from the side stage and was walking out through the curtain: "But my mom doesn’t let me date. She says it’ll interfere with my dancing."

The two teachers were startled. Qin He quickly covered it up by saying they were just joking.

However, Master Cao later took the chance to talk to her privately and brought the topic up again:

"I can tell you listen to your elders, but sometimes, being too obedient means suppressing your true nature. When you suppress desires, you lose the ability to express emotions, and your performance lacks passion. That’s why you’re always assigned to solo dances with calm emotions. I’m not joking, forming an intimate relationship might really help you loosen up and express yourself."

Liang Yixuan didn’t fully understand back then, but she made a mental note of it.

Later, when she started seeing Bian Xue, Xiao Jie said that he didn’t seem like someone who was serious about dating and warned her to protect herself.

Liang Yixuan remembered Master Cao’s advice and, in all seriousness, said that she hadn’t thought long-term, but just wanted to find someone good to experience life, as the teacher had suggested it would help improve her artistic expression.

Xiao Jie was stunned by her boldness and said, "You artists really have some avant-garde thinking."

……

At that thought, Liang Yixuan pulled herself out of her thoughts.

She gave Xiao Jie an embarrassed smile. "I was just messing with you."

"…Why would you lie to me?!"

"If I had told you I was serious back then, what would you have done?"

"Of course I would've told you to turn back while you still could!"

Liang Yixuan pouted. "I didn’t want to hear it at the time."

"You were totally blinded by Bian Xu’s sweet talk!"

"No," Liang Yixuan shook her head. "He didn’t sweet-talk me, I was the one who made the first move."

Now that was unexpected.

Xiao Jie opened her mouth to speak, but paused for a while before asking, "Then why are you telling me now?"

"Because now I’m ready to listen," Liang Yixuan said with a smile. "I’m not good at cursing people out. Can you do it for me, just a little?"

"‘A fool who comes to their senses is worth more than gold!’" Xiao Jie glanced at the clock on the wall. "I have to head to the shop now, I’ll save the cursing for after work."

Xiao Jie co-owned a café at a nearby shopping plaza. Weekends were actually their busiest time, so she didn’t get to take a break.

After she left, Liang Yixuan took a shower, popped a painkiller, and crawled into bed to catch up on sleep.

She didn’t wake up until noon. Her body felt heavy and weak, and she didn’t even have the strength to clench her fists. It was clear she had a fever.

With all the injuries that come with dancing, Liang Yixuan had dealt with enough complications to recognize this, most likely a fever caused by tendon inflammation.

Feeling groggy, she got up to look for the ear thermometer. She rummaged through drawers and cabinets for a while but couldn’t find it and used up all her energy in the process.

She dragged herself back to bed, reached under the covers for her phone, and opened her recent call log.

The top call was one Xiao Jie hadn’t picked up that morning.

She hit redial, but as soon as she heard the unfamiliar ringtone, she realized her blurred vision had made her hit the second number by mistake, Bian Xu’s assistant, the one she called on her last night in Amsterdam.

She quickly hung up and dialed the right number.

Xiao Jie came rushing home fifteen minutes later.

She couldn’t remember where she’d put the ear thermometer either, and didn’t want Liang Yixuan exhausting herself by looking for it. So she came back, just in case she needed to be taken to the hospital.

Sure enough, when she took her temperature, it was 39.2°C.

Xiao Jie patted her on the leg as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Come on, get up. I’m taking you to the hospital. If you keep burning up like this, you’ll really fry your brain!"

Liang Yixuan propped herself up on her elbows.

Xiao Jie opened the bedside drawer to grab her hospital card, when suddenly a phone vibrated.

She glanced up and saw the screen: Assistant Lu calling.

Liang Yixuan rubbed her aching temples and didn’t pick up. The call eventually ended, but immediately another one came in.

Now that’s a responsible assistant.

She would’ve been better off accidentally calling Bian Xu himself.

If it had been Bian Xu, and she didn’t answer the first time, there definitely wouldn’t have been a second call.

The phone continued to buzz, and Liang Yixuan had no choice but to pick it up.

"Miss Liang, you've arrived in Nanhuai? I missed your call earlier. Is there something you need from me?" Lu Yuan asked energetically.

"No," Liang Yixuan realized her voice was hoarse as soon as she spoke. She cleared her throat and said, "I dialed the wrong number."

"Hey, what's wrong with your voice? Are you sick?"

"A little feverish, but it's nothing serious. You can go ahead and get back to work."

Just as she was about to hang up, another male voice came through on the line. "What a coincidence, you dialed my number?"

It was rare, Bian Xue was actually free.

Even rarer was the fact that he took the time to interpret her actions, thinking that she had deliberately dialed the wrong number to reach him.

Liang Yixuan furrowed her brows. "I really dialed the wrong number."

"Alright, you dialed the wrong number," Bian Xue sighed. "What's going on? Did you get sick as soon as I left?"

"..." Liang Yixuan furrowed her brows even more.

Bian Xue seemed unconcerned about whether she responded or not and continued, "Did you take any medicine? Do you need someone to take care of you?"

"No need, Xiao Jie is here. I'm hanging up."

"Xiao Jie?"

A wave of irritation rose in Liang Yixuan’s chest, but she patiently explained, "My roommate. You’ve met her three times."

She repeated the same explanation three times exactly.

On the other end of the line, Lu Yuan was frantically mouthing to Bian Xue: She’s upset, say something nice!

Bian Xue gave him a glance and added, "Alright, well, Lu Yuan will be heading back to the country soon. If you want anything, let him bring it to you."

Liang Yixuan fell silent.

Girls in relationships would probably be happy to receive gifts, but not her.

Because every time Bian Xue gave her a gift, it always felt like he was just trying to quickly brush off her feelings in the easiest way possible.

If she had any hope left when leaving the island, hoping that he might at least bring up the rumors after he was done with his work——

Now, hearing him try to smooth everything over from a distance with just another gift, that last sliver of hope was completely closed off.

"If I think of something, I’ll——"

"I’ve thought about it," she cut him off.

"Hmm?" There was a hint of laughter in Bian Xue’s voice. "What do you want?"

Liang Yixuan closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I want you to... shut up. Right now."