Chapter 296 - 297: I haven’t figured it out for twenty years
Di Xiaxia really didn’t know what she should say. She didn’t even dare to look at Di Mingzhe. She just quietly lowered her gaze, silently thinking that this must be some kind of fantasy.
But Di Mingzhe seemed wholly engrossed in helping her clean the blood and dirt off her body without saying a word.
With her body cleaned of dirt and grime, he suddenly lifted her chin. His slender fingers, cool with the icy water, brushed against her cheek.
The forceful strength in his fingers forced her to lift her head, while a surge of pain seared her cheek.
Unable to bear it, Di Xiaxia furrowed her brows.
"Does it hurt?" Di Mingzhe asked, his voice somewhat hoarse.
"No, it doesn’t." Di Xiaxia quickly responded while avoiding his gaze.
Seeing her like this, Di Mingzhe remained silent, feeling a bit dejected.
Was she that scared of him?
It seemed like she was afraid to even exchange another word with him.
He wasn’t a beast who would devour her, so why did she seem so reluctant to talk to him?
He remembered how persistently she used to cling to their younger brother.
Like when they were children, she would always pester their little brother to play with her.
Their younger brother was reticent and disliked playing with little girls because he found them particularly bothersome and annoying.
Every time their little brother hit her for bothering him, she would cry woefully and run to their second brother for consolation.
However, after a while, when she stopped hurting, she would return to pestering their little brother again.
Eventually, perhaps because of the frequency of the beatings, their little brother was too ashamed to hit her anymore.
Di Mingzhe found it strange. They were all brothers from the same mother; she could cling to their youngest brother, dote on him, and even be capricious with their middle brother, why was she always distant with him?
Was it because he wasn’t as handsome as the youngest brother, didn’t have as charming a personality as the middle one, or was he simply not as remarkable?
But everyone who knew him praised him for his excellence.
He never understood why the sister, who was raised together with them, was distant from him.
This was a question he had pondered for over twenty years without finding an answer.
There were many times when he wanted to ask her directly, but he always thought that would be overly sentimental.
After a chain of thoughts, he finally finished cleaning her.
"Stay here for a bit." Di Mingzhe released her chin, his voice deep. "The rescue team should be here soon."
"Okay." Di Xiaxia nodded.
Di Mingzhe remained silent, quietly sitting beside her.
Neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere became heavy with silence.
Di Xiaxia was typically not one to enjoy silence, but sitting next to Di Mingzhe, she had no idea what to say. It seemed that she and Di Mingzhe never had much to talk about.
This was a saddening thing.
The silence was so rominent that she wanted to break it, but the more she tried to find a topic, the harder it became. After a while, she finally gave up.
Di Mingzhe, when silent, exuded a standoffish demeanor that kept others at a distance.
It was quite telling that after living together for over twenty years, she had nothing to say to Di Mingzhe.
He was really one of those people who valued every word.
She figured it might be better not to say anything after all, so it wouldn’t get more awkward.
As she was lost in such thoughts, a loud noise suddenly echoed from above. Di Xiaxia looked up to see a helicopter.
"The rescue team is here!" Di Xiaxia exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Di Mingzhe stayed silent, continuing to sit quietly.
The helicopter slowly descended, and once it reached an appropriate height, the door opened.
Only then did Di Mingzhe nonchalantly get up, maintaining his composure and signaling with his arm.