Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 42: Will You Miss Me?

Liang Yixuan decided she really shouldn't trust artists’ interpretations of their own work anymore.

A streetlight could be called the moon, frost on grass could be snow, an ordinary practice outfit could be Giselle’s beautiful white tutu...

One minute someone says, "I have no personal feelings toward the inspiration behind this character," and the next they flip faster than a Sichuan opera mask change.

He said everything from both angles, anyway—it was his and the lyricist’s creation, and the final interpretation was entirely up to them. Whatever way you looked at it, it could make sense.

Liang Yixuan shook her head and stepped inside. She paused as soon as she saw the bouquet of lilies Shen Ji had given her in the living room vase. After tonight, she finally understood why Shen Ji, after watching《Lu Bian》, said she reminded him of a rose—and why Bian Xu also compared her to a rose in《Rosabella》.

Because the girl who danced that New Year's Eve four years ago, and the one who danced《Lu Bian》last winter, happened to feel the same way inside—channeling her unspoken frustrations and bottled-up emotions into her dance.

She had thought those thorns inside her were visible only to herself. But unexpectedly, Bian Xu had witnessed them—twice, years apart.

And only those two times.

Whenever she was face-to-face with Bian Xu, she always acted cautiously, never showing her temper or revealing her edges. So, like most people who only saw her surface, Bian Xu once gave her delicate lilies.

But after they separated—and she started losing her filter, letting her temper flare freely at him—he began to give her roses instead.

Most people, like Shen Ji, would probably think carefully before choosing flowers: roses for passionate love, lilies for pure friendship.

But Bian Xu wasn’t a theorist. Whether he gave her lilies or roses had nothing to do with symbolic meanings—it depended on how she acted in front of him and the impression she left.

Something that had once confused her for so long... turned out to be that simple.

Liang Yixuan stood frozen in place for a moment.

Bian Xu followed her into the room. When he saw her staring at the lilies Shen Ji had given her, he lifted his eyelids lazily and said, "If you keep looking at that bouquet, I can’t promise it’ll still be here tomorrow."

Liang Yixuan snapped out of it and frowned at him. "Are you beasts so hungry you eat flowers now?"

"……"

Just then, footsteps echoed from the staircase.

Cheng Nuo rounded the corner and waved her phone at them. "You two—production is asking us to send our texts."

"Coming," Liang Yixuan said as she started heading up the stairs.

Bian Xu followed behind.

Cheng Nuo linked her arm with Liang Yixuan’s and showed her a screenshot on her phone.

"A friend from abroad just sent me this—you made it into the European media."

Given Bian Xu’s fame in Europe, it wasn’t unusual for a rare public performance like this to get media attention.

"Lots of praise for you," Cheng Nuo said as she flipped through the comments. "I was a little worried when you went to film that performance—looked like you had insomnia again the night before. But you were amazing."

She emphasized the words "insomnia again," and slyly glanced back at Bian Xu.

Bian Xu paused on the stairs, frowning. "You’ve been losing sleep again?"

Liang Yixuan stopped on the step and turned to look at him. "Just a little."

"Oh, really? So ‘a little’ means you’re awake until 1 a.m., and ‘a lot’ means 2 a.m.?" Bian Xu frowned at her. "Should I send over the aromatherapy you used to use before bed—"

He cut himself off mid-sentence.

Liang Yixuan blinked, stiffly.

What Bian Xu had just said accidentally hinted at their past cohabitation.

Cheng Nuo’s eyes darted rapidly.

Although she already knew they were exes, she hadn’t known how close they’d been. Her plan had been to casually drop a hint about Liang Yixuan’s insomnia to prompt Bian Xu into action—but now it seemed he already knew all too well.

Feeling awkward, Liang Yixuan glared at Bian Xu for his slip-up. "No need."

Then she turned and quickly walked upstairs.

Back in her room, Liang Yixuan sat on the sofa, staring at her phone, still holding the unsent text the show had reminded her about.

Cheng Nuo had already sent hers. With nothing else to do, she sat beside Liang Yixuan and asked, seeing her hesitation, "Planning to skip the vote again today?"

Except for the night she stayed at her grandma’s house, Liang Yixuan hadn’t sent any texts all week.

At the time, she told production she’d just returned from a week away, wasn’t in the right headspace yet, and didn’t know who to text—asking for their understanding.

But now that several days had passed, she couldn’t keep using that excuse. Even she felt it sounded too fake.

"I don’t know," Liang Yixuan answered honestly.

"When you didn’t know what to send before, didn’t you just text Shen Ji something like, ‘Take care and rest early’? You could just send something simple like that again. It’s just one text—don’t overthink it."

Liang Yixuan frowned, looking down.

That might’ve worked before, but now—even just out of politeness—she couldn’t bring herself to send a message like that to any of the other male contestants.

By separating "Bian Xu" from "the others," and realizing she couldn’t choose the latter, even without actively picking the former, it became clear: Her heart had already shifted in a way she couldn’t take back.

These empty votes were just a meaningless form of resistance.

Liang Yixuan let out a soft breath, raised her phone, and started typing a message——

「To: Bian Xu」
「Message: Just sending something.」

At the same time, in the third-floor suite, Bian Xu pressed send on his message——

「To: Liang Yixuan」
「Message: ‘If fresh snow has just fallen, and the full moon is high in the sky, the ground glows silver below, and above, silver light flows—and then you walk toward me with a smile. Between the moonlight and the snowlight, you are the third kind of beauty.’」

The next morning, Liang Yixuan was woken up by her alarm.

The days were getting shorter and the weather colder. Even someone as self-disciplined as Liang Yixuan struggled to get out of bed right away when still half-asleep.

She turned off the alarm, rubbed her eyes, and picked up her phone in the dim light, intending to scroll through the morning news to wake herself up—only to immediately notice that a trending topic on Weibo had her and Bian Xu’s names on it.

She tapped in and realized that the whirlwind from last night still hadn’t died down.

Of the fifty trending topics, three were about her and Bian Xu:

#LiangYixuanIsRosabella#
#RekindlingLiangAndBianIsReallyRekindlingLove#
#LiangAndBianTrendingOverseas#

The first two seemed to be leftover trends from the night before—they had hit "boiling" status and had now dropped to just "hot."

The third one looked fresh, likely new that morning. An entertainment blogger had taken screenshots of overseas media and netizen reactions to her and Bian Xu’s performance, translating the comments into Chinese.

Some of the posts were serious critiques of their professional skills.

Others, after learning the performance was from a dating reality show, jumped right into shipping them—just like netizens in China.

Under that post, early-bird commenters were already having a lively discussion:

「Early risers get their daily dose of sugar!」

「The couple I ship is finally out in the open, QAQ」

「Who was the prophet that said Liang and Bian’s stage would blow up internationally? Say more things with your magic mouth! (Like maybe say they’ll get married.)」

「Name another dating show couple with no celeb status that’s made it overseas like this—Bian Xu, Liang Yixuan, are you seeing this? The whole world’s telling you to get married!」

Liang Yixuan blinked in confusion for a few moments.

She had expected their performance to gain attention overseas—but she hadn’t expected the overseas reaction to follow the same path as the domestic one.

Turns out... shipping couples knows no borders?

Now fully awake, she locked her phone, got out of bed, dressed, washed up, and got ready to head downstairs for breakfast.

But just as she opened her door, she unexpectedly ran into someone she hadn’t seen in a long time—Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan was dragging a suitcase down from the third floor. It looked like he was helping Bian Xu move something downstairs.

Liang Yixuan froze in place, startled.

Lu Yuan looked a little surprised too. "Oh, Miss Liang, you’re up this early?"

Liang Yixuan nodded and glanced at the suitcase in his hand. "That’s…?"

"Oh, the boss asked me to pick him up. He said he’s heading back to Amsterdam for a bit."

Liang Yixuan’s eyes flickered slightly. For some reason, the moment she heard that city name, it felt like something heavy yanked her heart straight down into her chest.

Upstairs, a door clicked shut.

She looked up and saw Bian Xu coming down the stairs while fastening his suit jacket. He gestured to Lu Yuan to go on ahead and then walked over to her.

"You’re up early," he said, reaching out to gently ruffle the top of her head.

She tilted her head away and swatted his hand. "Not as early as you."

He raised an eyebrow. "I’m going to the island to film something. Thought I’d head out early and get back early."

She nodded.

"Aren’t you going to ask how long I’ll be gone?"

"What’s the point," she replied, expressionless. "A day on the island equals ten years in the real world. It’s not like time works the same over there."

Bian Xu choked slightly on his words. "It’s just two days this time—real-world days. With flights and everything, I’ll be back in three at most. Definitely before Friday’s date planning."

"Wouldn’t it be better if you didn’t come back?"

Bian Xu let out a breathy laugh and gently tapped her forehead with his knuckle. "Don’t even think about dating someone else. And by the way, I got your text. Even while I’m gone, don’t go sending messages to anyone else. Not even a ‘just sending something’ kind of message."

"You’re already leaving and still micromanaging?"

He shook his head and pointed downstairs. "I had Lu Yuan bring that calming aromatherapy stuff you always use. It’s in the living room cabinet. Use it if you need it."

"Got it…"

"I’m going now," Bian Xu said, taking a step before turning back. "Liang Yixuan, will you miss me?"

She slowly blinked and turned her head away. "No."

He sighed, walked down two steps, then turned back again. As if conceding, he nodded to himself and said softly, "I will."

Her breath caught. By the time she snapped out of it, he was already gone.

Two days later, Thursday night at 10 p.m., Liang Yixuan returned to the northern villa after an extended training session at the dance center. As she stepped into the hallway and glanced into the living room, she saw Lin Xiao Sheng and Duan Ye playing video games, while Cheng Nuo and Zhao Meng’en sat on the couch chatting and snacking on sunflower seeds.

Pan Yu was in the kitchen making a late-night meal, and Shen Ji was helping.

She was the last to arrive home, and her entrance drew everyone’s attention.

"You’re back, Yixuan," Cheng Nuo looked up. "You’ve been getting home later and later—are rehearsals getting really intense lately?"

Liang Yixuan nodded. "Yeah, kind of."

"Want some late-night food?" Shen Ji offered with a smile. "We made red bean porridge tonight. It’s low in calories."

Liang Yixuan smiled and waved it off. "Thanks, but I’m not hungry. You all go ahead."

Cheng Nuo glanced back at her and saw her heading toward the stairs. "Going to your room?"

"Mm-hmm. Don’t worry about coming up right away—I’m not sleeping yet."

"Okay." Cheng Nuo nodded, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with Liang Yixuan lately.

She always came home late, barely interacted with the others, and went straight upstairs—not because she was tired, but to quietly sit in bed reading a book.

Zhao Meng’en had noticed too. After Liang Yixuan left the room, she turned to Cheng Nuo and said, "Doesn’t it seem like Ms. Liang’s been acting kinda strange lately?"

"She’s just young," Pan Yu said with a chuckle, chiming in from the kitchen. "One little game of playing hard to get and she’s already lost her soul."

At the bend in the staircase, Liang Yixuan, who had turned around halfway to go get the aromatherapy, heard that last part loud and clear—and froze in place.