Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 31: #Seizing the Moment#

Bian Xu felt that even this phrase wasn’t enough to describe his past.

All this time—was it really that Liang Yixuan never cared about him or their relationship? Or had he been too blinded by arrogance and contempt to see the truth? Had he arrogantly defined her with just one thing he overheard behind a corner, without ever truly facing the reality?

He had never dared to seriously think about it.

Until just now—when he heard the answer from the person closest to her.

He wasn’t the victim.

He was the one who had caused the hurt.

The moment he assumed she wouldn’t care, wouldn’t be hurt—and threw those sharp words at her, using coldness to keep himself on a pedestal—his guilt had already begun.

The sky grew darker. The streetlights, sensing nightfall, flickered softly, then lit up.

Liang Yixuan looked at Bian Xu under the glow of the streetlamp, stunned.

There was a storm raging in his eyes—she had never seen Bian Xu like this before.

For someone whose vocabulary didn’t seem to include the word "wrong," how could he look this remorseful?

But surely, the "idiot" he mentioned earlier couldn’t have been aimed at her.

And it couldn’t have been some random stranger at the hospital, either.

Liang Yixuan tightened her grip on the shopping bag, digging her nails into her palm as she asked, "What did my grandma say to you?"

Bian Xu lowered his eyes for a few seconds, calming himself. Then he let out a long breath and grabbed the bag from her hand.

"How many times have I told you—stop digging into your hand like that?"

Liang Yixuan didn’t expect him to switch tones so suddenly. She choked a little, confused.

"Is it bothering you?"

"Obviously. Or do you think I’m just nitpicking for fun?"

Liang Yixuan raised her hand with a half-laugh.

"My hand’s attached to me. How exactly is it bothering you?"

Bian Xu turned his head away, staring off at a tall pine tree in the distance, as if working up the courage to say something hard.

After a long pause, he looked back at her and raised his brows.

"Because it hurts me to see it. Is that not allowed?"

Liang Yixuan froze, hand still halfway in the air. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t think of a reply.

Seeing Bian Xu’s eyes locked intensely on her made her feel oddly cornered.

"…Not allowed," she muttered coldly, then lowered her head and walked toward the building.

Bian Xu blinked slowly, then turned to look at her retreating figure.

He couldn’t ask for her forgiveness by telling her what he once overheard—how he had stood behind that curtain, listening in on something that wasn’t meant for him.

How it all began didn’t matter anymore.

He refused to use something so low and manipulative to guilt her into forgiving him.

From this moment on, he would accept her judgment—whatever it may be.

That night, Liang Yixuan stayed at the hospital with her grandma.

Bian Xu left before she went to sleep, telling her he’d come pick her grandma up the next day for discharge.

Liang Yixuan had wanted to say there were plenty of cars on the road with four wheels—no need to trouble the "young master" and his two legs. But thinking about her grandma’s lingering concussion, she figured it might be risky if a random driver wasn’t careful.

In the end, she didn’t turn him down.

The next afternoon, after finishing the IV drip with her grandma, she noticed Bian Xu still hadn’t shown up.

Just as she was about to call him, she remembered she had blocked his number.

To call him, she’d first have to remove him from the blacklist.

The whole thing felt oddly awkward.

Standing by the door, phone in hand, Liang Yixuan was hesitating when a shadow suddenly fell over her.

"No need to call," a familiar male voice said.

Liang Yixuan looked up and saw Bian Xu glancing at her phone screen with a mix of frustration and resignation in his eyes—like he was annoyed, but had already given up being annoyed.

She quickly locked the screen and was about to say something, but behind her came her grandmother’s cheerful voice: "Ah, Xiao Xu! You’re here!"

"…"

Xiao what?
What Xu?

Bian Xu smiled and nodded to Grandma Cao Guizhen. "Mm."

"Sorry to make you come all the way here again. Must’ve been a tiring trip—come in and sit for a bit," Grandma waved him in kindly.

Still smiling, Bian Xu replied, "Okay."

Liang Yixuan glanced at her grandma, then at Bian Xu, suspicious and confused.

No way.

Since when was Bian Xu good at charming elders?

Bian Xu sat down next to the hospital bed, thinking back to the message Lu Yuan had sent him the night before:「With your sharp tongue, saying something nice isn’t exactly your strong suit. Don’t rush things or you’ll just mess them up. Just remember two things to say—first—— 'Mm-hmm.' Second: 'Okay.' Say them with a smile. That way, you can’t go wrong in front of an elder. As for actions, peeling an apple by the bedside is your best move. But I’m guessing you don’t know how, so maybe practice ahead of time. And please, take care of those million-dollar hands of yours. (#^.^#)」

Bian Xu glanced at the plate of fruit on the bedside table and picked up an apple.

"Would you like me to peel an apple for you?"

Grandma Cao looked pleasantly surprised.

"Oh, you don’t have to! Xiao Xuan told me you’re a pianist—your hands must not be used to this kind of thing, right?"

"They weren’t, but now…" Bian Xu spread his fingers and glanced at Liang Yixuan.

"I’ve even gutted eels—what can’t I do?"

"Oh wow, even gutting eels!" Grandma said, impressed.

Liang Yixuan: "…"

Why did it suddenly feel like a comedy routine—one playing the joker and the other playing along?

"He didn’t even finish the job," she cut in, bursting his bubble.

When she saw him actually pick up the fruit knife, she eyed him suspiciously.

"Do you even know how to use that? Don’t hurt yourself—my grandma’s just getting discharged, and you might end up admitted instead."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Bian Xu weighed the apple in his hand.

"Watch and learn."

But Liang Yixuan didn’t know why she was even holding her breath to watch this performance art version of apple peeling.

Clearly, the risk outweighed the entertainment.

She reached over, took the fruit knife from his hand, and set it aside.

"Forget it. Your hands are only good for playing the piano."

Frustrated, Bian Xu blurted out, "Liang Yixuan, I didn’t even sleep—I practiced all night—"

Halfway through the sentence, he stopped himself.

He froze.

So did Liang Yixuan.

Only Grandma Cao continued to smile happily on the side, watching like a mother-in-law looking at her future son-in-law—the more she looked, the more she liked him.

Grandma Liang’s house was in a residential area in the southern suburbs, not far from the hospital.

Once they arrived, the warm, friendly neighbors—so different from the cold, distant ones in the city—came by to check on Grandma Cao’s condition. Caught off guard by so many enthusiastic grandmas, Bian Xu felt a bit overwhelmed and didn’t stay long.

Liang Yixuan had thought he’d find an excuse to stick around all day again, but to her surprise, he had really only come to pick up her grandma.

Even the one skill he had stayed up practicing had been rejected.

Once the neighbors had left, she suddenly realized: When Bian Xu left, she’d been so busy chatting with the aunties that she didn’t even look at him once.

Thinking back now, she felt... a tiny bit guilty.

Just a little.

But not enough to actually call him, right?

...Right?

After sending off the guests, Liang Yixuan went to the nearby supermarket, bought some meat and vegetables, and came home to cook dinner.

Once she’d fed her grandma and finished a deep clean—removing anything that might be a trip hazard—it was already 9 p.m.

Their home had three floors, and cleaning every corner had taken quite a while.

The sixth episode of the variety show had already aired an hour ago.

Liang Yixuan figured she barely appeared in this one and hadn’t paid much attention to the episode.

Curious, she checked the trending topics on social media.

As expected, the production team couldn’t get much out of her and Bian Xu, so they shifted the spotlight to Cheng Nuo and Duan Ye, even buying a trending tag for their potential "CP."

Relieved, she was about to put her phone down and shower when she refreshed the list again—and a new, rapidly rising topic caught her eye: #SeizingXuToSlipIn#

"?"

Xiao Jie had told her before: trending topics that shoot up out of nowhere are usually bought, but ones that steadily climb like this are almost always organic—driven by real users.

Given the timing, she had a gut feeling that the "Xu" in this tag was referring to Bian Xu.

Confused, she tapped on the trending topic and saw a popular video.

It showed the inpatient ward hallway at the Third Hospital.

She was sitting on a bench, dozing off. As she slept, her head tilted toward Bian Xu.

Bian Xu, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. He looked at her for a moment, then gently brushed a stray strand of hair from her face.

Then he leaned over and lightly rubbed his chin on the top of her head.

"……"

Liang Yixuan had no idea that Bian Xu had made such tender little gestures while she was asleep...

From how natural he looked doing it, had he done this before when they were together?

She thought about it for a while but couldn’t remember. Then she realized—even if he had, she was asleep back then too, so how would she know?

Clutching her phone tightly, she rewatched the video.

It ended right at the moment when Bian Xu lifted his head, probably because the person filming was afraid of being caught.

The video quality wasn’t great—it was clearly zoomed in on a phone. Liang Yixuan couldn’t believe she and Bian Xu had already reached the point of being secretly filmed just for going out. Even harder to believe was that people online could recognize them from such low-resolution footage—until she clicked into the comments and saw the top one:

「[Image] They’re wearing the exact same clothes they wore when they left the villa in the middle of the night in the episode! Bian & Liang are totally real! ‘Sneaking in on Xu’ couple, let’s go!」

The image was a screenshot from tonight’s aired episode, capturing the scene from the night her grandma had the accident—when she rushed downstairs and Bian Xu grabbed her hand and pulled her outside.

At the time, she was too panicked to notice, and if the production team hadn’t included that background clip in the episode, she wouldn’t have remembered him holding her hand at all.

But now, the matching outfits were undeniable proof.

Under that Weibo post, the comments and likes were skyrocketing—visibly multiplying every second. The most repeated line by far was: Aaaaah! I’ve shipped a real couple!

Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Liang Yixuan took a dazed shower. By the time she came out, the topic had already hit #1 on the trending list.

Xiao Jie had blown up her WeChat with more than ten messages—full of exclamation marks.

Her own inbox on Weibo was filled with excited private messages from fans.

Leaning on her hand, she scrolled through her phone when she suddenly heard a soft "tap" against her window—a small pebble.

Startled, she looked outside and saw a silver-white Bugatti Veyron parked below with its headlights on. Bian Xu was leaning casually against the driver’s door, looking up at her window on the second floor, holding something in his hand—probably a second pebble.

"…"

Liang Yixuan slid open her window and leaned out, quickly glancing around at the neighbors.

She lowered her voice: "What are you doing here? Why are you throwing rocks at my window?"

Was this because she had blocked his number, and now he had to resort to old-school methods just to talk to her?

"Sneaking around like this—what are you, having an affair? Come down and talk," Bian Xu said, tilting his chin toward her.

She quickly threw on a jacket and went downstairs.

As soon as she got to him, she frowned: "You’ve got some nerve showing up."

He probably came all this way just to give her a chance to yell at him, knowing she’d be upset after seeing the trending topic and wouldn’t have an outlet.

Bian Xu raised his eyebrows. "Why wouldn’t I show up?"

"You—you did that at the hospital…" Liang Yixuan started, but she couldn’t bring herself to describe the exact details. She changed tack: "In a public place. Couldn’t you be more aware of your surroundings?"

"Easy for you to say," Bian Xu replied, lightly tapping her forehead with his knuckles.

"You were the one leaning on me. You think I was in the mood to care about what was happening around us?"