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Became a National Couple with My Ex Side Story · Main Couple (Part 3): A Fiancé Ten Times More Bossy Than a CEO

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Liang Yixuan followed Bian Xu to his family’s old home in North City.

Two days earlier, on New Year’s Eve, the two had spent the night apart—one in the south, one in the north.

Liang Yixuan figured that once they were married, they’d spend every New Year’s Eve together anyway, so there was no rush to stick together this year. Plus, since Bian Xu had been living long-term with her in Nanhuai, she thought it made sense for him to go back and reunite with his family for the holidays. Meanwhile, she stayed home to celebrate the night with her mom and grandmother.

Bian Xu agreed, but just like a piece of clingy tape, he didn’t stay away for long on New Year’s Day, he brought his parents all the way to Nanhuai. It counted as both a holiday visit and the first official meeting between the two families.

At first, Liang Yixuan was a little nervous. Her mom had accepted her relationship with Bian Xu, but couldn’t exactly say she liked her sharp-tongued future son-in-law. To her surprise, though, everything went much better than expected.

Bian Xu’s parents seemed deeply in love and very warm. Both were experienced in business and knew how to carry themselves socially. And as the saying goes, "You can’t fault someone for being too polite." The Bian family’s gifts were thoughtful and impeccable, and her mom gave them full respect in return. The entire visit passed without a single awkward moment.

That evening, Bian Xu’s parents returned to North City. He stayed the night in Nanhuai, and after a late breakfast with her grandmother on the second day of the new year, he took Liang Yixuan with him to visit his family.

They arrived at the Bian family estate around 1 PM. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw Bian Xu’s father, Bian Xuemin, and his older brother, Bian Chen, lounging in the sunroom, sipping tea.

An assistant wheeled their suitcases into the house.

Hearing the sound of rolling luggage, the father and son looked up in unison.

Bian Xu held Liang Yixuan’s hand and walked forward. "Dad, bro."

Liang Yixuan had just seen Bian Xuemin the day before and had spoken to him quite a bit, so she felt pretty at ease. She gave a polite nod and greeted the two elders: "Hello, Uncle Bian. Hello, Big Brother Bian."

"You’re finally here," Bian Xuemin chuckled and pointed at them. "We were just sitting around bored, wondering when you’d arrive."

Bian Chen got up and pulled out rattan chairs for them. "You must be tired from the trip. Sit and rest a bit."

"In a bit," Bian Xu waved casually. "We’ll go unpack first."

"Hurry up," Bian Xuemin sighed dramatically. "We don’t have enough players for Dou Dizhu. Your mom and sister-in-law went out gift shopping, and your grandpa doesn’t even want to hang out with us. He’d rather take a nap than ‘lower himself to our level’... Yixuan, do you know how to play? Come play a few rounds with your uncle later."

Liang Yixuan hadn’t expected what she’d learned during the reality show from Cheng Nuo and Shen Ji would come in handy during a family visit. She nodded quickly: "I just learned last year."

Bian Xu gave her a sidelong glance, his tone sharp with a trace of mockery. "Hmm? Who’d you learn from?"

"From Cheng Nuo and Shen—" Halfway through her sentence, Liang Yixuan paused, realizing exactly what Bian Xu was implying.

Back then, they were in the middle of a fight over the "loach incident," and they were supposed to be washing dishes together. But Zhao Meng’en offered to take over, so she ditched the "big trouble" and went upstairs to rest. On her way past the second floor, she got pulled into a card game with Cheng Nuo and Shen Ji.

When Bian Xu saw his dish-washing partner had been replaced, he switched gears and wanted to join the card game instead, only to be coldly rejected by both her and Cheng Nuo.

The whole thing had clearly left him feeling bitter. That card-playing memory was not exactly his favorite.

Liang Yixuan cleared her throat and left Shen Ji’s name unsaid, muttering, "Just... back then…"

Bian Xu grabbed her by the arm and led her away from the sunroom.

She gave a quick nod to the two elders in apology before disappearing into the house. Once inside, she asked, "What are you doing?"

"No card games," he said firmly.

"Why not?"

"Do you really need a reason for everything?"

Liang Yixuan frowned and crossed her arms. "If you’re not giving me a reason, why should I listen to you?"

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" Bian Xu let out a sharp laugh. "Liang Yixuan, are you seriously reminiscing about things you learned from another man, right in front of me? What, am I dead to you?"

Liang Yixuan laughed in exasperation. "You... even the domineering CEOs Cheng Nuo writes about aren't half as overbearing as you!"

"Oh yeah?" Bian Xu raised his eyebrows smugly, as if she’d just complimented him. "Then maybe she should make her characters reflect on why they can't even match one-tenth of my level of dominance."

"…"

Fifteen minutes later, Liang Yixuan was sitting in a rattan chair in the sunroom, squeezed beside her fiancé who was clearly ten times more domineering than any fictional CEO, watching him play cards with Bian Xuemin and Bian Chen.

She silently called him petty in her heart but didn’t dare show it, sitting obediently by his side like the proper future daughter-in-law.

As soon as the first hand was dealt, Bian Xu fanned out his cards, sorted them lightning fast, then clapped them together and laid them on the table with a confident smile.

Liang Yixuan blinked in surprise at how fast he moved. "You're done already?"

Bian Xu glanced sideways at her. "What, your teacher wasn’t this fast?"

"What’s the big deal about sorting fast? Doesn’t mean you’ll be the landlord…"

"…"

She had muttered that last line under her breath, but both Bian Xuemin and Bian Chen still caught it.

The father and son glanced at each other and burst into amused smiles.

Bian Xu lifted his eyelids and gave them both a brief look.

Liang Yixuan cleared her throat awkwardly.

Seeing her sitting there with nothing to do, Bian Xu opened his cards again and held them up for her. "Tell me, how many points is this worth?"

"I only know the basics. I'm not really good at this yet."

"Just say what you think."

Liang Yixuan thought for a moment, then guessed conservatively, "Um… one point?"

"Your teacher really that gutless?"

"…" Liang Yixuan secretly pinched his waist under the table. "Why do you have to throw shade at someone in every sentence?"

"So that from now on, whenever you play Dou Dizhu, you’ll only think of me." Bian Xu smiled and raised his eyebrows. Once the two across from him had their cards ready, he said with a tilt of his chin, "Three points."

"Look at your little brother," Bian Xuemin chuckled in a whisper to Bian Chen. "Back when you were in school, didn’t all the boys on the basketball court act like this when a pretty girl walked by?"

Bian Chen laughed and whispered back, "It’s not just ‘like’—this is exactly the same."

Liang Yixuan struggled to hold back a laugh as she looked at Bian Xu.

Bian Xu shot a blank look at the two of them. "If you’re going to whisper, do it louder. I’m sure even a deaf person could hear you."

The first round turned into a show-off match.

Bian Xu called landlord and started playing without a second of hesitation. Liang Yixuan hadn’t even made sense of the cards yet, and he was already throwing them down one after another. In no time, he had cleared his hand.

Bian Xuemin and Bian Chen tossed a few chips toward him as they laid their blocked cards on the table.

Bian Xu caught the chips, weighed them in his palm, then handed them to Liang Yixuan. "Here, have fun with these."

"…What’s so fun about them?" Liang Yixuan didn’t mean to spoil the mood, she genuinely didn’t understand how plastic chips could be entertaining.

"This is like sinking a three-pointer right in front of a pretty girl, and she doesn’t even think it’s cool," Bian Xuemin said, still chatting with Bian Chen.

"Exactly," Bian Chen nodded.

"You don’t think I’m cool?" Bian Xu turned to glance sideways at Liang Yixuan.

"…" Not wanting to embarrass him in front of his family, Liang Yixuan quickly shook her head. "No, you are. Very impressive."

"So who’s more impressive, me or the person who taught you?"

If Bian Xuemin had wanted to tease a little more, he’d probably have added: That’s just like a guy asking a pretty girl on the basketball court, ‘Who’s better, me or your class’s sports rep?’

Men really are just boys who never grow up.

So childish.

"All right, that’s enough from you," Liang Yixuan gave him a sidelong glance.

"Just answer properly and I’ll stop."

Liang Yixuan gave him a look that was half amused, half helpless. "You. You’re the best."

Bian Xu gave a satisfied nod, cracked his knuckles, and flexed his fingers. Then he said to the others, "Let’s go again."

Bian Xuemin and Bian Chen just smiled and shook their heads.

As Bian Chen started dealing, Bian Xu tapped his chips against the table and turned to Liang Yixuan. "Do you know what it means if I win all the chips on the table?"

Liang Yixuan wasn’t familiar with their betting stakes, so she asked curiously, "What?"

"A car."

Liang Yixuan blinked slowly, trying to figure out what kind of car "a car" meant in Bian family terms.

"What if no one wins all the chips?"

"Then whoever wins the most gets the prize." Bian Xu motioned toward the chips on the table. "Whether the car goes to you, my sister-in-law, or my mom that’ll depend on how this afternoon goes."

"…" Liang Yixuan looked over at Bian Xuemin and Bian Chen, both of whom were calmly sipping tea like this was completely normal. And at that moment, she finally understood why Bian Grandpa didn’t want to "join their game" and also why no fictional CEO could ever be one-tenth as overbearing as Bian Xu.

…Because the Bian family had three of them.