Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 58: I Can’t Hold Back Anymore, Baby

The moment Liang Yixuan realized where Bian Xu’s gaze was fixed, it felt like a bomb went off in her head.

She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself and figure out how to quickly change the subject—to move past this awkward moment. But just then, she heard the faint sound of water moving through the speaker.

At the same time, the screen shifted slightly—Bian Xu must’ve changed his sitting position.

Realizing what his free hand might be doing under the water, Liang Yixuan suddenly felt like she was holding a burning hot potato in her hand. She couldn’t take it anymore and immediately hung up the video call.

On the other end, Bian Xu looked up at the sound of the disconnection tone. Staring at the now-black screen, he blinked slowly, then sent a voice message: "Liang Yixuan, we’ve already gone all the way—are you really still this shy?"

There was no reply.

He leaned back, resting one arm along the edge of the tub, lazily holding his phone in the other hand.

Then he sent another voice message: "Alright then, when we get home tomorrow, I’ll help you work on growing a thicker skin."

The next morning, after breakfast at her grandmother’s house, Liang Yixuan walked outside and saw Bian Xu’s car already parked in front of the courtyard gate.

Aunt Fang from next door was watering flowers in her yard. As soon as she saw Liang Yixuan, she pointed at Bian Xu’s car and said, "Xuan, your boyfriend’s a real good one—he’s been here for a while already!"

Liang Yixuan gave her a shy nod, then glanced through the windshield and saw the teasing smile on Bian Xu’s face. Instantly, his words from last night echoed in her mind: "Tomorrow when you’re home, I’ll help you toughen up."

Good? He’s full of mischief, that’s what he is.

She walked around to the passenger seat and got in, not giving him the chance to bring up what happened the night before. She beat him to it by pulling a clear food container from an insulated bag. "My grandma insisted I give you these steamed dumplings."

"You sound like you’re being forced," Bian Xu raised an eyebrow.

Liang Yixuan glanced at him. "Like you even like them."

"I like anything if you feed me," Bian Xu said, opening his mouth halfway and pointing at it.

Liang Yixuan slowly turned her head to look toward Aunt Fang’s courtyard—just as she expected, Aunt Fang had stopped watering her flowers and was now staring right at them, watering can in hand.

She turned back, stiffly. "Then you can take it or leave it."

"Liang Yixuan, I drove across half of Nanhuai early in the morning just to pick you up for work, and you’re telling me feeding me a dumpling is too much?"

"Someone’s watching us."

"So what? You’re planning to kiss me in front of all your aunts and uncles at our wedding—don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts?"

"…"

Someone please rein this guy in.

Liang Yixuan exhaled sharply, opened the container, took out a pair of chopsticks, picked up a shrimp and corn dumpling, and shoved it straight into his mouth.

Not that it could shut him up.

After breakfast, they hit the road. The car drove from the southern suburbs into the city, and the two of them chatted casually about nothing in particular.

As they neared the dance center, Bian Xu switched the wheel to his right hand and leaned his head on his left, sounding a little disgruntled: "Why’s Nanhuai traffic so smooth at this hour?"

"What, were you hoping I’d be late?" Liang Yixuan muttered.

Bian Xu sighed. "What time do you get off tonight?"

"You coming to pick me up?"

"Yep," he nodded. "To take you home and toughen that face up."

Liang Yixuan knew he wouldn’t let last night go. She shook her head. "Then I’m not getting off work."

The car stopped at a red light. Bian Xu turned and pinched her chin. "That’s fine. We’ll do it at the dance center then."

"…"

"Can you act normal for once?" she pushed his hand away.

"Isn’t it your job to make me act like a decent person?"

Liang Yixuan shot him a glare. "I honestly don’t know when I’ll finish. They’re finalizing the lead roles for the new show this week—might need to stay late. I’ll call you ahead of time."

Bian Xu nodded. "Alright."

Seeing his reluctant, bored expression, she asked, "What will you do while I’m at work?"

"Wait for you."

Liang Yixuan frowned.

She used to complain he was too busy—now, she was starting to think he was too free.

"Can’t you find something to do?" she couldn’t help asking.

"I already did," Bian Xu grinned and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"Living off my girlfriend."

"…"

The car pulled up to the temporary stop in front of the dance center. Liang Yixuan gave up arguing with someone who could make "living off a woman" sound as honorable as "doing scientific research."

She got out of the passenger seat and walked around to the driver’s side. Just as she did, she saw Bian Xu roll down the window. "Liang Yixuan, leaving so quickly—didn’t you forget something?"

"What did I forget?" she asked, puzzled, and leaned in to glance at the passenger seat, wondering if she’d left something behind.

"You forgot to pay the fare."

Before she could even react, she suddenly felt a hand push down on the back of her neck, forcing her to bend forward.

Warm lips pressed against hers—Bian Xu gently bit her lower lip before letting go and saying, "Alright, payment received."

Liang Yixuan felt that not only was Bian Xu not a stepping stone in her career, he was more like a stumbling block.

Everything had been perfectly normal until he "charged her fare" on the way out. For the first time ever, she walked into the dance center feeling dazed and flustered, so much so that she didn’t even hear the foreign choreographer greeting her.

It wasn’t until they had already passed each other that she realized someone had spoken. She quickly turned around, bowed, and said in English, "Sorry, Mr. Deacon, I was thinking about something else."

"You were thinking about love," the witty foreign man replied, gesturing dramatically.

Liang Yixuan forced herself to nod.

Deacon looked her over. "Liang, you’ve been doing well lately. Are they really not considering casting you in my production? I really liked your performance in 《By the Wine Jar》—you were so different from how you used to be."

Deacon wasn’t a full-time member of Nan Ballet but had been invited to choreograph their production of 《Giselle》.

Missing this opportunity meant it was hard to say when the next one would come.

But during the casting period for 《Giselle》, Liang Yixuan had been dealing with acute Achilles tendonitis. The role originally planned for her—The Queen of the Wilis—was given to another soloist in the company. All the other roles had also been finalized three months ago.

Now there was just over a month left before joint rehearsals began. It was too late for changes, no matter what.

Liang Yixuan politely expressed her regret at missing the chance.

Deacon shrugged and said he looked forward to working together next time.

After saying goodbye, Liang Yixuan changed into her practice clothes in the dressing room and went to the studio.

Half a day of technique training followed by half a day of discussion on the new production wrapped up by five in the evening. Before taking a shower, she called Bian Xu to let him know he could come pick her up.

It was rush hour, and the traffic was bad. By the time she finished freshening up, she got a message from Bian Xu saying he’d be late. Seeing how messy the dressing room was, she decided to tidy up a bit while she waited.

Just as she was folding her practice clothes, she suddenly heard a strange noise coming from the rehearsal hall across the corridor—sounded like someone crying loudly.

Since work hours were technically over, Liang Yixuan first thought she misheard. But then came a loud thud, as if something heavy had fallen.

Realizing something was wrong, she rushed out and pushed open the door to the rehearsal room—only to see someone curled up on the floor, clutching their knee.

She ran straight in, and when she got close, she saw it was Li Pei, the company’s principal female dancer.

Liang Yixuan quickly knelt down and helped her up. "Sister Li, did you hurt your knee?"

Li Pei was drenched in cold sweat, her face as pale as paper. She nodded while gasping for air.

Liang Yixuan pried her hand away to check her knee and asked, "How did you fall?"

"I turned too fast… I heard something pop inside…" Li Pei said, her voice full of despair.

Liang Yixuan’s heart dropped.

External bumps and bruises were usually no big deal, but if you heard something from inside the body—that was serious.

For a dancer, the sound of something tearing inside was the scariest thing of all.

"We need to get you to the hospital," Liang Yixuan said as she tried to help her up. But Li Pei could only stand on one leg. Dizzy with pain, she barely straightened up before collapsing again, dragging Liang Yixuan down with her.

"Don’t…" Li Pei shook her head, still clutching her knee. "Don’t get hurt too."

"Hold on a second. I’ll go get help."

Liang Yixuan turned and ran out, heading straight to the security office downstairs.

Two security guards immediately rushed up with her after hearing what happened.

Thankfully, after all these years in the company, she had some emergency experience. She grabbed a stretcher from the storage room and helped the guards secure Li Pei on it. Together, they carried her downstairs and got her into a taxi.

Li Pei lay slumped in the back seat, unable to sit up.

Liang Yixuan got into the front passenger seat and closed the door. "Sir, please take us to First City Hospital."

The hospital wasn’t far—usually about a fifteen-minute drive from the dance center—but at this hour, traffic was unpredictable.

As soon as she got in the car, Liang Yixuan called Qin He. Looking at the traffic jam ahead, her heart clenched as she turned to check on Li Pei.

Li Pei was in her early thirties and one of the most experienced principal dancers in the company. Over the years, she had suffered all kinds of injuries—she’d even endured a broken bone without complaint. But now, she lay groaning in the back seat, clearly unable to bear the pain.

Judging by the signs, Liang Yixuan suspected it wasn’t a bone injury—it might be a torn cruciate ligament.

Just the thought of those four words hit her like a hammer, even though the injury wasn’t hers.

When they arrived at First City Hospital, the taxi stopped in front of the emergency entrance.

The kind driver ran inside ahead of them and borrowed a wheelchair for Li Pei, then helped transfer her from the car.

Just then, Qin He arrived—she lived nearby and had rushed over.

"Teacher Qin," Liang Yixuan finally felt a bit more grounded after the frantic rush.

Li Pei had held back her pain in front of the younger dancers, but as soon as she saw Qin He, tears streamed down her face. "Sister Qin… will I…"

"Don’t talk like that," Qin He said, slightly out of breath as she patted her back. "Let the doctors have a look first."

Liang Yixuan helped push Li Pei into the emergency room with Qin He.

After a quick exam, the doctor suspected a torn anterior cruciate ligament. After giving her some basic pain relief, they sent her for imaging tests.

Liang Yixuan and Qin He split up—one accompanied Li Pei to radiology, and the other went to pay the medical fees.

While paying at the emergency desk, Liang Yixuan took out her phone. As she unlocked it, she saw ten missed calls from Bian Xu.

Only then did she remember that in the chaos earlier, she’d forgotten to call him.

She rubbed her aching forehead and quickly returned his call after paying the bill.

But as soon as the call went through, someone suddenly grabbed her arm and spun her around with force.

Liang Yixuan looked up to see Bian Xu holding her tightly, out of breath, scanning her from head to toe. "You're not the one who got hurt?"

She quickly shook her head. "No, I was just accompanying—"

Before she could finish the sentence, Bian Xu pulled her into a hug.

Bian Xu held her tightly, with so much strength it felt like he might crush her.

"...Liang Yixuan, can you please just answer your phone properly?"

Liang Yixuan suddenly understood.

Bian Xu must’ve arrived at the dance center and, not finding her, heard about the accident from the security guards.

They probably confused her with Li Pei and gave him unclear information. Since he couldn’t reach her by phone, he thought she was the one who got hurt.

"I’m so sorry…" she wrapped her arms around his back, "It was my fault—I didn’t pay attention. I’m really sorry…"

Bian Xu rested his chin heavily on her shoulder, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

Once Li Pei’s family arrived, there wasn’t much more Liang Yixuan could do, so Qin He urged her to head home.

On the way back to Lancheng Tianfu, Bian Xu drove in complete silence.

At first, Liang Yixuan was still shaken by what had happened to Li Pei. Once she calmed down a bit and realized how long the silence had lasted, she glanced at Bian Xu’s serious expression and hesitated, unsure of what to say.

They stayed quiet all the way home. After parking in the underground garage and going upstairs to their apartment, Liang Yixuan changed into slippers at the door. Seeing Bian Xu take off his suit jacket, she hesitated, then tugged gently at his shirt sleeve.

"I had my phone on silent during class this afternoon… After I called Teacher Qin, I just stuffed it into my coat pocket. Everything happened so fast in the car—I completely forgot you were waiting for me…"

Bian Xu turned to look at her, frowning.

He wasn’t actually mad at her. He knew how to prioritize in an emergency.

He had just spent the entire ride back thinking about how, just last night, he told Liang Qin that he supported Liang Yixuan’s career and would never stand in the way of her devotion to ballet.

But today’s scare made him realize: supporting her sometimes meant he had to bite down hard and brace himself for the worst.

Seeing he still didn’t speak, Liang Yixuan lowered her head. "I really am sorry… It won’t happen again…"

Bian Xu let out a long breath, pulled her into the living room, and poured her a glass of warm water.

"After all that talking, aren’t you thirsty?"

Her throat was burning from the stress. She took the glass, drank half, and then handed it to him.

"Are you thirsty too?"

"Liang Yixuan," Bian Xu looked at her darkly, "you’re seriously offering me your leftover water? After you nearly scared me to death, this is what I get?"

Liang Yixuan awkwardly pulled the glass back, just about to pour him a fresh one, when something occurred to her. She looked up at him.

"Then…"

Bian Xu raised a questioning eyebrow.

Liang Yixuan stood on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck, and tilted her face close to his lips.

"Then… would you drink this kind of water?"

Bian Xu didn’t immediately return the hug. He lowered his gaze and looked into her eyes.

"Careful. I’m not in the calmest mood right now. If you keep this up, I can’t guarantee I’ll hold back."

Liang Yixuan’s eyes flickered.

Just when Bian Xu thought she might pull away, she slowly blinked and said, "Then… maybe you don’t have to."

His eyes darkened.

"Actually, I’m kind of emotional too…" she whispered, swallowing softly.

Bian Xu stared at her for three quiet seconds. Then he raised his hand, placed it behind her thigh, and lifted her up in one swift motion.

Reflexively, Liang Yixuan wrapped her legs around his waist. Her body rose into the air, but her heart felt like it was in free fall.

Bian Xu carried her into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed.

The soft mattress sank beneath them. Liang Yixuan straddled his lap, her fingers lightly pressing against his shoulders. She licked her lips nervously.

"Wait… so you’re not holding back just because you can’t, right?"

"I already can’t hold back anymore," Bian Xu said, lifting his gaze to hers. "Baby."