Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 55: Don’t Be Mad

The voice coming through the receiver was deep and firm. Sitting in Bian Xu’s lap, with her ear so close to the phone, Liang Yixuan could hear the old man’s words loud and clear.

Bian Xu glanced at Liang Yixuan’s conflicted expression, patted her back gently with the arm around her, and calmly responded to the voice on the phone, "And where did you hear that?"

"Heard it?" Bian Hongshu gave a cold snort. "I saw it with my own eyes!"

Bian Xu dragged out an "Oh," and said, "Aren’t you the one who’s always looked down on the entertainment world? Since when did you lower yourself to surf the internet?"

There was a short pause, as if Bian Hongshu had been choked up for a second. Then he regained his authoritative tone: "If I hadn’t gone online, how would I know my grandson is getting married?"

"That’s not true. You hardly ever go online and don’t know your way around—don’t get fooled by those trolls."

"Trolls? I think you’re the biggest troll! You’ve made your relationship so public. If you don’t marry the girl properly, how is she supposed to date anyone else in the future?"

"She still wants to date someone else?" Bian Xu gave Liang Yixuan a sidelong glance.

Liang Yixuan pinched his arm, but it was all firm muscle—didn’t even budge. Instead, he just tightened his hold on her.

Unaware of the little back-and-forth between the couple, Bian Hongshu continued scolding: "Then why haven’t you made things official yet?"

"She just turned twenty-two this year. What’s the rush?"

"So you do know she’s young, yet you’re still making your relationship such a big deal?"

Bian Xu twirled a strand of Liang Yixuan’s hair around his finger and sighed. "If I hadn’t made it a big deal, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to date her at all."

Liang Yixuan looked up at him—honestly, that wasn’t entirely wrong.

But Bian Hongshu clearly didn’t get it and wasn’t buying it: "Nonsense! I don’t care when you’re getting married, but you must give that girl—and her family—a clear answer now. Bring her home soon to meet us. Don’t embarrass the Bian family. If you don’t take care of this properly, don’t bother coming home for New Year’s!"

The old man was getting louder by the minute. Bian Xu moved the phone away from his ear and rubbed it with his eyes closed. After a moment, he put the receiver back to his ear. "I know how to handle things, but whether or not I can bring her to Beicheng, I can’t promise."

"What could possibly be the problem?"

Bian Xu looked down at Liang Yixuan, curled up in his arms. "What can I say? I’m no longer the most capable one in the family."

After a long string of coaxing and explanations, Bian Xu finally managed to calm his grandfather down and hang up. Liang Yixuan sat up from his lap. "Your grandpa doesn’t usually go online. How did he even find our livestream?"

Bian Xu thought for a moment and opened his WeChat message list.

Liang Yixuan glanced at his phone screen and saw an impressive number of red notification bubbles. The list was packed with unread messages, some dating back to last year…

No wonder, back when they first met, she had cautiously asked if WeChat was the best way to contact him, and Bian Xu had told her to just call. They only added each other on WeChat earlier that day because the director made a group chat for the livestream.

Given how unused his WeChat was, not having it might’ve been better.

She watched as Bian Xu scrolled back and forth through his message list. "What are you looking for?"

"My brother’s WeChat."

"Can’t you just search in your contacts?"

"How do I do that?"

"…."

Liang Yixuan had always considered herself a bit old-fashioned, not super savvy with all the latest tech. Among her peers, she was more of a traditionalist. But in front of Bian Xu, she suddenly realized—she was a trendsetter.

Over the past month, with Lu Yuan’s guidance, Bian Xu had managed to learn how to use apps to watch variety shows, check trending topics, and understand internet memes and slang. His learning ability was impressive.

Just as she was about to show him how to search, Bian Xu handed the phone to her.

"What name did you save your brother as?"

"No nickname. His username should just be his full name—Bian Chen."

She found the contact and gave the phone back to him.

Bian Xu opened the chat with Bian Chen and started listening to the string of unread voice messages—going all the way back to over a month ago:

"I heard you’re joining a variety show. Grandpa and Dad don’t like this kind of thing. Don’t put yourself in the spotlight."

"The production team contacted me. The family gave you connections for a reason—not for you to use them like this. I convinced Grandpa and Dad to let it go. If you must do the show, at least do it properly and don’t mess around."

"I saw the news. It’s fine to clear up rumors, but doing it in public and making Bei Ying look bad is also slapping Grandpa in the face. This whole thing has made the two families look bad. Grandpa is furious. Call and calm him down."

"The family’s not against you dating, but making it such a public matter isn’t something to be proud of. Keep your boundaries. Grandpa is still upset—no more gossip headlines every other day."

"Seems like you’re head over heels for that girl. If you like her that much, be serious about it. Fix your temper. If this whole mess ends with you still not winning her over, you’ll embarrass the whole family."

"I heard Bei Ying caused a scene at the girl’s workplace. If you need the family to step in, let me know."

"I showed Grandpa the stage performance you did with the girl. He snorted in front of me, but later I caught him rewatching the video. I think he’s coming around, but he probably won’t admit it. If you get a chance, talk to him about her. Dad’s also concerned."

"The show’s almost over and there’s still no resolution. If there is one, let us know. Don’t keep the whole family in suspense."

"The director told me about you and Xiao Liang—good news, and that you’d be livestreaming tonight. Grandpa asked how to watch. I couldn’t stop him, so I had his assistant help. Make sure you behave."

At the end of the messages, a new voice note popped up:

"Grandpa left a comment in the livestream to make it clear we’re not being disrespectful. We’re at a point where you really need to give Xiao Liang an answer. But the viewers took it as a joke. Grandpa doesn’t understand internet culture and feels a bit wronged. If you and Xiao Liang have time, come visit him and cheer him up. It doesn’t need to be an official ‘meet the family’—just chat with him about life and art. Your mom, dad, and I won’t step in yet, so we don’t scare her off. But you know what to do—treat Xiao Liang well. If she ever stops liking you, we all know you’ll end up lonely for life."

Liang Yixuan and Bian Xu: "…"

Liang Yixuan sat there in a daze, trying to process all the emotionally loaded messages—and the fact that she had somehow gone from being "that girl" to "Xiao Liang."

Bian Xu clicked his tongue softly. So this was what people online meant when they said "slapping your own face with the truth."

Why did the men in the Bian family always seem to fall into this pattern?

"You didn’t reply to a single message, and your brother didn’t even scold you. He just kept patiently sending one voice message after another," Liang Yixuan said, snapping out of her thoughts.

"There weren’t any questions in them. They were just meant for me to listen to," Bian Xu replied.

"But you didn’t even listen to them," Liang Yixuan shook her head. "You don’t know how lucky you are. If I had a brother that thoughtful, I’d treasure him—read and listen to every message carefully."

"Well, it’s not like you can’t have one," Bian Xu raised a hand. "Your boyfriend can take on both roles if he has to."

Liang Yixuan shot him a glare, then brought up something more serious. "So basically, your whole family already knows about me."

"So what?" Bian Xu raised his eyebrows. "Doesn’t your family know about me too?"

"But you know everything about my family, while I barely know anything about yours."

"I’ll tell you all about them tonight."

Liang Yixuan nodded eagerly. "Okay."

She never imagined that one day, she’d be lying under the covers with Bian Xu, just chatting about family.

From what he shared, she learned that Grandpa Bian had spent his whole life in music—he was an old-school artist. Grandma Bian, who had already passed away, came from a powerful business family and was a strong, capable entrepreneur.

Together, they had one son—Bian Xu’s father. Grandpa Bian hoped his son would follow in his musical footsteps, but the man had a head for business, not art. So he went into trade with Grandma Bian and eventually married Bian Xu’s mother, who was also a businesswoman.

The combination of their talents helped the Bian family business thrive, but it also meant Grandpa Bian’s musical legacy had no one to carry it on.

Then came their first grandson, Bian Chen. Grandpa Bian pinned his hopes on him, praying the musical gene would skip a generation. But unfortunately, Grandma Bian’s genes were too dominant. Bian Chen had no interest in instruments—he loved numbers. Even during his first birthday "object picking" ceremony, he reached straight for a calculator.

Grandpa Bian was crushed.

Years later, when Bian’s mom got pregnant again with Bian Xu, something unusual happened: every time she played classical music, the baby would kick excitedly.

Grandpa Bian was thrilled. The moment Bian Xu was born, he gave him the name "Xu" (叙), a nod to his own name "Shu" (述). In Chinese, "Xu" comes before "Shu" in the phrase xù shù (meaning to narrate), expressing Grandpa’s hope that Bian Xu would surpass him.

And sure enough, Bian Xu showed extraordinary musical talent from a young age. Grandpa Bian adored him.

But at twenty, Bian Xu took a hard turn from classical music into commercial music, breaking Grandpa’s heart.

They clashed constantly over the next four years.

Still, even if Bian Xu never said it out loud, he always respected his grandfather.

That’s why, even though he had no creative ideas at the time, he still went to the theater for inspiration—watching Liang Yixuan dance for over half a month—until he composed that ballet piece. Grandpa Bian had been pushing him to "turn in his homework," not wanting him to forget his roots.

Even though Grandpa Bian often seemed critical and picky, he clearly loved his grandson deeply.

Worried that Bian Xu might isolate himself too much on that remote island and become some reclusive, emotionally stunted "music maniac," Grandpa had been racking his brain for ways to help—including sending him Peach as a companion.

That’s when it hit Liang Yixuan: Whether it was the ballet piece that first connected her with Bian Xu, or Peach who later helped mend their relationship—the root of it all was Grandpa Bian.

Without him, she and Bian Xu might never have happened.

She looked at Bian Xu and said, "I think your grandpa sounds really sweet. Maybe I should listen to your brother and… visit him with you someday?"

"No rush," Bian Xu pulled her close. "We’re going to see your grandma first tomorrow."

Liang Yixuan froze for a second. "Wait, are you planning to… talk to my grandma about that?"

"What are you so nervous about?" Bian Xu looked at her sideways. "You really lose your cool the moment an elder brings something up, huh? Liang Yixuan, I’m not trying to get married that young, you know."

"…"

The next morning, at 8:00 a.m., Liang Yixuan and Bian Xu got up early and headed to the southern suburbs.

After what he’d said the night before, she felt more relaxed and stopped overthinking it. Bored in the passenger seat, she scrolled through Weibo and found that their livestream had made the trending list under the hashtag:

#ReXuLiangYuan’sLiveShowSweetLikeCPFanFiction

Besides their original CP fans, a lot of casual viewers were swooning in the comments, wondering when their favorite ships would get to be this sweet.

Then she noticed a very different trending topic about Cheng Nuo and Duan Ye:

#AnotherCPCrushedByReality

Apparently, viewers had a terrible experience watching their livestream the night before. One minute they were getting sweet couple vibes—next minute, those vibes were completely shattered.

To keep Bian Xu from dozing off while driving, Liang Yixuan told him all the juicy gossip about Cheng Nuo and Duan Ye.

Just as they were approaching the southern suburbs, her grandma suddenly called.

"Xiaoxuan, are you and Xiaoxu on your way?" Grandma Cao’s voice was gentle over the phone.

"We’re almost there, Grandma."

"Oh dear… that might be a problem…"

"What’s wrong, Grandma?" Liang Yixuan’s heart skipped a beat.

"Your mom didn’t even give me a heads-up. She showed up early this morning looking all worn out from travel. She’s upstairs washing up right now. And you and Xiaoxu are just about to arrive…"

Seeing Liang Yixuan’s expression change, Bian Xu glanced at her and asked, "What’s wrong?"

Just as the car turned onto her grandmother’s street, Liang Yixuan blinked stiffly and said, "Maybe… pull over for a second?"

Bian Xu steered the car to the side of the road.

Liang Yixuan spoke a few quick words to her grandma, then hung up in a rush and turned to Bian Xu. "My mom showed up out of nowhere… maybe we should just head back for today…"

Bian Xu raised an eyebrow. "Why? Am I that unpresentable?"

"It’s not that," Liang Yixuan lowered her gaze. "I’m just afraid it won’t go well. If you come off as overpowering, my mom’s at the age where getting worked up too often isn’t good for her health. But if she ends up being rude to you… I don’t want you to feel hurt either…"

Bian Xu kept his hands on the wheel, saying nothing.

Liang Yixuan bit her lip, then gently tugged at his sleeve. "Don’t be mad, okay?"