Chapter 477: 476 Archives (6)

Bo Yan squeezed over to look and then shook his head, “It doesn’t seem like it.”

“If it’s not, then change it!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Even Xia Siyu herself hadn’t noticed that her voice sounded a bit “frustrated,” but it was also coquettish, with a slight tremble at the end.

It was only now that Bo Yan had understood.

In fact, when Xia Siyu said she hated him and didn’t want to open up to him, it was her true inner desire. She was independent enough and had a strong inner self.

She was the typical tough on the outside but soft on the inside type, saying one thing but meaning another, not responding to force but to gentleness.

The more you forced her, the more she resisted. But if you treated her gently, considered her feelings, and respected her, she could feel the good in you.

But just being good to her wasn’t enough, as was the case with Qin Baizhou. His kindness to Xia Siyu was unquestionable, but Xia Siyu, being quite straightforward, would take Qin Baizhou’s kindness as “friendship,” not as “boyfriend.”

Bo Yan had the advantage of having been her boyfriend before. But even if he hadn’t, he would approach her at once, giving her the ambiguous emotions between a man and a woman.

He was rattled by Xia Siyu’s “no” yesterday, but now, he figured out the strategy and knew how to work on winning her heart in the future.

“I can’t change, you’re my wife, how could I change you?” Bo Yan also intentionally lowered his voice, which sounded particularly captivating in the quiet archives room.

He didn’t make any deliberate moves, even took a half step back, giving her some breathing space. But it was precisely this subtle approach that made Xia Siyu feel even more restless.

Xia Siyu felt nervous and worried, but besides the fear of being discovered, there was an inexplicable emotion. Particularly, the staff member, maybe thinking they hadn’t found the book after so long, got up to approach, “Did you find it?”

But Bo Yan definitely wouldn’t let go, neither moving nor leaving.

Hearing the staff member’s footsteps getting closer, Xia Siyu grew anxious. The more anxious she became, the angrier she got. After getting angry, all she thought about was how to escape this situation.

And escaping naturally involved her most familiar tactic:

A knee jab.

The staff member came over, and Bo Yan and Xia Siyu stood quite apart. Bo Yan, with a composed expression, stood upright flipping through the index. Only the sweat on his forehead and his flushed face betrayed the pain. He even had to deliberately steady his voice when speaking, to avoid giving himself away, “It’s fine, we found the book, thank you.”

What the staff member didn’t notice was that Bo Yan walked with his legs pressed together, like a timid bride, shuffling slowly to the reading area.

Xia Siyu turned back to see Bo Yan’s wretched state, and even though she snorted with a scrunched-up nose, “serves you right,” she didn’t realize that her snort didn’t sound as disgusted as before, but rather had a hint of schadenfreude.

Although Bo Yan was in pain, he felt that she wasn’t as repulsed by him as she was last night. It proved his approach was correct: he had to be considerate of her, care for her, and gradually influence her. Sometimes he had to let himself be sacrificed, to let her vent her frustrations on him.

It’s just that, ouch—

He hoped that she would choose a different spot next time, as this “part” couldn’t withstand the wear and tear.

Time always flies when reading.

By the time the archives were closing, they hadn’t finished with the books, and they agreed to continue the next day.

As soon as they left the archives, Bo Yan was holding her hand when a voice called out from outside, “Siyu.”

It was Qin Baizhou.