Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 63: Tonight Belongs to You (Ending Part 2)

Liang Yixuan could see just how hard it was for her mother to say all those words.

She knew her mother was someone with strong pride—always wearing a poised smile in front of others, carrying herself with grace and composure, never letting anyone see her scars.

Until today, even as her daughter, she had never once heard her mother speak about the regrets in her artistic career—or what might be called her "failures."

When she was younger and asked why her mother had stopped dancing with the troupe, her mom simply said it was because age had caught up with her and her physical condition had declined—that retiring was a natural step. She never once mentioned how unwilling she was to let go.

It was the same when she asked why there was no father in the family. Her mother only offered a light explanation—that they had grown incompatible after marriage and had chosen to part ways without forcing things. She never spoke of what exactly went wrong, nor whether she resented the marriage ending.

But today, for the first time, her mother had revealed those old wounds right in front of her. And suddenly, Liang Yixuan realized—she had always felt a sense of distance between them, but she wasn’t the only one bearing the weight of that distance.

When a mother becomes distant, the daughter also becomes distant.

She didn’t have a mother she could confide in, and her mother didn’t have a daughter she could truly open her heart to.

The thought made Liang Yixuan ache inside. She couldn’t stop her tears from falling.

Sensing she was about to lose composure too, Liang Qin turned to leave. "I’ll head back now," she said.

"Mom—" Liang Yixuan quickly wiped her tears and reached out to stop her, grabbing her arm.

Liang Qin paused mid-step. Her eyes stung with tears, but she blinked them away and turned around with a composed expression. "Is there something else you want to say to me?"

Liang Yixuan nodded.

In the process of making peace with Bian Xu, she had come to understand that reconciliation shouldn’t be a one-sided effort.

She and her mother had always been passive—neither of them willing to speak up until tensions reached a breaking point. Now that the moment was here and words had already been said, she didn’t want to let the opportunity pass. She wanted to say something to her mother too.

After a moment of silence, Liang Yixuan dried her tears, took a deep breath, and said, "Mom, I never thought of you as a failure—neither as a dancer nor as a mother."

Liang Qin’s expression shifted slightly.

"I’ve never seen my dad. I don’t even know what he looks like—not even in my dreams. When I was little, that really hurt me. I used to hide and cry when kids made fun of me," Liang Yixuan said softly, pressing her lips together. "But after I turned six, when you came back to Nanhua and started living with Grandma and me, that feeling started to fade."

"I realized you were so amazing—so focused on your dancing, so fulfilled in life—that whether that person existed or not didn’t matter to you. So I figured it didn’t need to matter to me either. I started to believe that those kids who teased me were wrong. We weren’t the ones who got left behind."

Liang Qin turned her face away, trying to hold back her emotions.

"You probably don’t know how important that realization was for me back then. You made a kid from a single-parent family stop feeling sorry for not having a dad. You helped her stop wishing for a father on her birthday and instead dream of becoming an amazing dancer like her mom. That—that was your success." Liang Yixuan stepped forward and hugged her. "Thank you, Mom."

Liang Qin nodded with trembling shoulders. She gently patted her daughter’s back, eyes closed, letting her tears fall in silence.

Both of them had cried their makeup off. After removing the rest at the dressing room sink, Liang Qin picked up her bag and said, "It’s getting late. The colleague who came with me is still waiting downstairs. I’ll head home now. If you have some free time in the next couple of days, come by for a home-cooked meal."

Liang Yixuan nodded and walked her mom out. As soon as she opened the dressing room door, she saw Bian Xu standing in the hallway, arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

Hearing the door open, Bian Xu looked up and scanned both their expressions. When he saw Liang Yixuan’s red-rimmed eyes, his brows furrowed.

Liang Qin quickly turned her head away, pretending not to see him. With her back to Bian Xu, she said to Liang Yixuan, "Alright, no need to walk me out."

Liang Yixuan glanced at Bian Xu and replied to her mom, "Take care on your way home."

Liang Qin nodded, clutching her bag as she stepped into the elevator.

Liang Yixuan pulled Bian Xu into the dressing room and closed the door. Seeing the serious look on his face, she shook his hand lightly. "Don’t worry, I didn’t argue with my mom."

Bian Xu frowned and gently reached out to touch the redness around her eyes. "Then why were you crying?"

Liang Yixuan briefly explained what she and her mother had talked about, then hesitated. "Do you think that counts as her making peace with me?"

Bian Xu’s frown relaxed.

He had been wondering—after everything he’d said last time—if even a moment like this couldn’t bring the two of them to reconcile, then Liang Qin really must have been impossible.

"Do you really have to ask? Of course it counts," he said, tapping her nose with his finger.

Liang Yixuan smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her face against his chest.

Although a relationship that had grown distant over so many years couldn’t magically become close overnight, mutual understanding was a start. The road ahead was long, and she believed things would only get better from here.

As she was picturing the future, she suddenly heard a sigh above her.

Bian Xu stroked her cheek and said, "It’s just a shame your mom doesn’t seem to have made peace with me."

"Hm?" Liang Yixuan looked up, frowning as she recalled her mom’s reaction to seeing Bian Xu earlier. "Maybe it’s because she had just cried and taken off her makeup, and didn’t want to be seen bare-faced by anyone, so she pretended not to notice you?"

"Liang Yixuan," Bian Xu shook his head with a serious expression, "if you knew what I said to your mom, you wouldn’t be so optimistic."

She looked at him warily. "What did you say to her? Tell me the worst thing you said."

Bian Xu thought for a moment.

Honestly, every word he said had been a direct hit—how could he even pick the worst?

He rubbed the back of her neck. "Let’s just say I played the villain. But it’s in the past now."

"Yeah, that part’s over… but are you still in the clear with my mom?" Liang Yixuan looked at him, clearly worried.

"Just like I turned the situation upside down, I’ll flip it back again," Bian Xu scoffed. "I managed to win you back—how hard can it be to win over a mother-in-law?"

That word—mother-in-law—made something click in Liang Yixuan’s mind. She let go of him. "Wait—where’s your grandpa?"

Bian Xu raised an eyebrow, a little annoyed at her sudden change of topic. "When someone told me your mom went into your dressing room, I figured you wouldn’t be available, so I asked the driver to take him home first."

"You what…? Your grandpa must think I’m so rude!" Liang Yixuan said, distressed. "Has the car already left the theater? Can I still catch him to say hello?"

"No need. There’ll be plenty of chances in the future," Bian Xu replied, frowning a bit. "How about you say hi to me first, Liang Yixuan? Just how long were you planning to treat your boyfriend like a background prop? I’ve spent less time with you than those ballet shoes on your feet."

Liang Yixuan cupped his face in her hands. "We’ll count that later. Let me meet your grandpa first. He came to see me in this cold weather, I really feel bad about it."

Bian Xu sighed, picked up his phone, made a quick call to the driver, and hung up. "Good timing. Traffic’s bad nearby, so they haven’t gotten far. They’ll circle back and stop at Gate 9."

Liang Yixuan grinned and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I already told the troupe I’m not staying at the hotel tonight. After I see your grandpa, I’m going home with you. Tonight, I’m all yours."

Bian Xu glanced down at her white chiffon dress. "Is that dress going home with you too?"

Liang Yixuan looked down, then blinked and looked up. "This is a custom piece from the troupe. It’s expensive—they usually don’t let us take it. Why would I bring it home?"

"What do you think?" Bian Xu raised an eyebrow. "You had me watch you get all lovey-dovey with another man on stage for two hours. And now you’re going home with me, and I get nothing?"

"Well… we can do something, but… why do you need this dress?" Liang Yixuan stammered, shaking her head. "You can’t be serious."

But the look in Bian Xu’s eyes told her—he was very serious.

He pulled her into his arms again. His hand slid over the butterfly-shaped bones on her bare back as he looked down at her.

"Babe," he said, his voice low, "you look exactly like you did in my dream five years ago when you wore this dress."

Then he leaned down to her ear and whispered: "I want to rip it off you."