The Socially Anxious Little Miracle Doctor - Chapter 2

The atmosphere had suddenly turned strange.

At least my veiled hat hadn’t fallen off.

For someone with social anxiety, that was a small comfort.

I stood there, trying very hard to look inscrutable, and waited in silence for him to make the first move.

But Gu Cisheng seemed determined to do this on purpose. He kept one hand around mine and the other lightly at my waist, without a word or any indication of what he wanted.

After we’d been at an impasse for a while, he actually leaned back against the edge of the pool, looking perfectly content. His expression relaxed into lazy ease.

And, of course, as he moved, he remembered to pull my rigid body a little closer.

I had nothing to say.

Perhaps my body language made my shock a little too obvious.

Young Master Gu finally found it in his heart to speak.

“Long time no see, little doctor. Have you been well?”

His eyes smiled. His clear voice sounded like jade chiming against stone.

Combined with that face, it was practically blinding.

However—

Me, on the inside: Well, aren’t you a bloody delight!

Me, out loud: “Q-quite well.”

“Still keeping me at arm’s length, little doctor? Cough—” Speaking pulled at his wounds, and his coughing left him even paler.

I seized the chance to quietly remove the hand resting so suspiciously on his body. Then I tried to pull my other hand free as though pretending nothing had happened would make it so.

I tugged and tugged. It wouldn’t budge.

When I looked up and caught the laughter in his eyes, I finally realized he had me exactly where he wanted me.

He was doing this on purpose!

…

I was furious.

Outwardly, I maintained my image as an unfathomable miracle doctor. Inwardly, I swore up a storm and wrenched my hand free.

Then I told him in a grave voice, “Y-you stay here and soak. I’ll get your medicine.”

I immediately turned my back on him, scrambled out of the pool on all fours, and fled the room as fast as my legs would carry me.

Just before I shut the door, I heard his faintly amused voice from inside.

“I’ll be leaving these injuries in your capable hands, little doctor!”

“…”

What happened to the young hero who could plan a victory a thousand miles away and still hold fast to his principles?

Was teasing a socially anxious doctor really that entertaining?

Day after day, he learned nothing worth learning—only the rotten habits of that idiot brother of his, Lin Zixiu!

Ugh. I wanted to kill the lot of them with my needles and be done with it. Then I wouldn’t spend my life playing the fool, saving one after another.

But I couldn’t beat a single one of them in a fight!

The main cast hadn’t always treated me like this.

I used to do an excellent impression of a mysterious master!

The first time they came to me, they’d been so respectful they might as well have put me on an altar.

I still remembered. Lin Zixiu had been the injured one.

All I’d done was put on airs, hoping to try out the sort of lofty expert I’d seen in dramas, and tell them, “I won’t save him.” Gu Cisheng had promptly put a sword to my neck.

His actions were overbearing, but his tone couldn’t have been more apologetic.

“If you will save my friend, doctor, I will offer you anything you ask with both hands. I have no other choice. Forgive this offense. Once he is safe, I will submit to whatever punishment you choose!”

I was already wearing my veiled hat then, and behind it, I wasn’t frightened in the least.

I knew this was a scene from the book. He wouldn’t hurt me, and he didn’t want to.

Still, I’d only just arrived in this world. Facing that cold, sharp blade for the first time in real life annoyed me.

So I really did send them scurrying up and down, waiting on me hand and foot.

True to his word, Gu Cisheng did it all without complaint.

But after ordering him around a few times, I stopped enjoying myself.

My lovesick brain had kicked in. I felt sorry for him.

Yes, that’s right. I liked Gu Cisheng.

But I liked him as a character. That was all.

So even after I entered the book, I never intended to change anything.

My character was only a plot device in the original, after all.

And every member of the main cast had a canonical love interest.

Gu Cisheng’s was his salvation. I had no desire to take her place.

Ever since I’d arrived, I’d stuck to the script, dutifully playing my supporting role and never crossing the line.

I appeared when I was needed and disappeared when I wasn’t.

To avoid any unnecessary butterfly effects, I even wore a veiled hat and kept my name to myself.

I let them call me “little doctor” and nothing else.

But all my precautions were no match for the natural-born extrovert in the main cast—the kind who acted like your best friend the moment you met!

He was the perfect counter to someone like me: halfway to a recluse, with a bit of a temper.

Before I knew it, that damned Lin Zixiu had led the others to the discovery that I had social anxiety.

From that point on, there was no stopping any of them from teasing me.

A girl’s life is hard.

Send me fifty yuan, ladies. Let me tell you all my troubles!