The water temperature was 37 degrees. It was very mild, neither hot nor cold, just about the same as her skin temperature. When her toes first touched the water surface, she didn’t even notice a clear temperature difference.
She slowly sank her entire body into the medicinal bath…
The medicinal bath enveloped her body… That feeling was completely different from soaking in a hot spring….
Rinna rested the back of her neck against the rounded rim of the wooden tub, closed her eyes, and let out a long, slow breath.
As that breath slowly left her lungs, that thing—whether fatigue or anxiety—that had been stuck in her chest ever since, seemed to release about one and a half tenths of its weight.
The subtle sweetness of Astragalus and the bitter fragrance of mugwort slowly seeped into her skin through the steam; the heat, using the medicinal bath as a medium, gently coaxed open a few gaps in her pores.
The capillaries under her skin, which were always too lazy to work, seemed to be gently awakened a little by the medicinal power at this moment.
‘Is Xiao Xiao listening on the other side of the wall right now?’
Rinna opened her eyes and turned her head to look at the beige shoji wall on the right.
Her room and Hisaki’s room were separated only by this wall…
That meant she was now less than 2 meters away from Hisaki.
She was here. Hisaki was there.
Rinna’s lips curled up involuntarily.
She could imagine Hisaki’s current posture…
Probably leaning sideways against the wall, ear pressed to the shoji paper, eyebrows slightly furrowed, fingers tapping unconsciously on her knees—each tap representing one more second she held back from rushing over.
Dr. Qi Lai said 10 minutes would be enough…
10 minutes to replay the thought “Is Rinna uncomfortable?” hundreds of times in her mind.
Rinna chuckled inwardly.
Then she closed her eyes again.
A few minutes passed quickly while wrapped in the medicinal bath.
Rinna’s consciousness drifted to the edge of a half-asleep state under the dual hypnosis of medicinal fragrance and water temperature; her thoughts were like a cotton candy soaked in water, the edges softening, the shape blurring, but the core still retaining a little clarity.
She stayed in this state for a few more minutes—hard to say exactly how long…
Then the door was knocked.
Rinna’s consciousness instantly snapped back from the edge of sleep, returning to full wakefulness.
She straightened up in the tub, amber-colored ripples spreading across the water surface, and droplets slid down between her shoulder blades, tracing her spine back into the medicinal bath.
Then she spoke toward the door, “Come in.”
But the moment the shoji was pushed open, Rinna’s body still made a series of tiny, subconscious, awkward reactions.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, hands resting on her collarbones, neatly covering the skin above the water that the medicinal bath hadn’t hidden.
Her knees under the water drew slightly toward her chest, her lower body shifting from a relaxed seated position to a slightly tense curl. She lowered her head, chin resting on the top of her crossed arms, revealing a small patch of earlobe reddened by the medicinal bath.
She didn’t dislike Dr. Qi Lai.
Among all the doctors Rinna had ever known, Dr. Qi Lai was probably the gentlest, the one who made it hardest to resist.
But this was the first time…
In front of anyone other than Xiao Xiao…
Being nearly naked in a tub of medicinal broth.
Even though the other person was female, even though she was a professional physician, even though this was a perfectly normal medical scenario, Rinna still felt completely uneasy.
Her skin had become more sensitive than usual from the soaking; the faintest air currents stirred by Dr. Qi Lai closing the door and walking over brushed over her shoulders, making her knees reflexively draw another inch toward her chest.
Still, she deliberately maintained a posture that looked less tense…
The angle of her lowered head wasn’t too severe, and her crossed arms didn’t create any creases.
She just waited quietly and obediently for Dr. Qi Lai to do her work.
When Qi Lai Ling Qin pushed the door open and came in, her gaze stopped on Rinna for less than a second.
That brief glance was a professional observation, practiced enough to instantly categorize a large amount of information.
She looked at Rinna’s current skin condition…
The skin surface was soft, pale, delicate and translucent, with very little redness; there were no signs of flushing or overheating.
This meant the concentration and temperature of the medicinal bath were within Rinna’s tolerance, causing no irritation.
She walked to the side of the tub, crouched down gently, the hem of her white coat spreading on the waterproof mat, making the faint sound of fabric rustling.
She wasn’t in a hurry to speak; she simply reached out and lightly placed two fingers on the rim of the tub near Rinna’s forehead, probably sensing the concentration of medicinal mist in the room and the rate of heat dissipation based on experience.
Then she spoke, her voice very soft and slow, with pauses between words just right, without any hint of urgency.
“Rinna, can you extend one hand?”
Of course, Dr. Qi Lai noticed Rinna’s unease.
It was always like this the first time, not to mention that Rinna had a constitution that was extremely sensitive to cold, and at this age she habitually tucked every small emotion under her skin.
Dr. Qi Lai didn’t say that aloud.
She just used the same smile she had given Hisaki earlier, quietly crouched by the tub, waiting for Rinna to be ready.
Slowly, gradually, Rinna extended her right hand from the medicinal bath.
As her arm rose from the amber-colored water, it brought up a fine spray, and droplets trickled down her wrist, the back of her hand, her fingertips, pattering back into the tub.
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