The Billionaire's Priceless Darling: 33 Days of the CEO's Pursuit - Chapter 166 - I'm Here to Pick Up... My Fiancée 3

She was even more charming than before, her eyes slightly reddened, exuding a delicate allure. Her pure and picturesque features carried an irresistible charm…

She seemed to be doing well. Had she been taken in by a wealthy family?

Was she really doing well?

Gu Xiaoai paused her hair-drying, not answering but instead smiling lightly, shifting the topic with ease, “What brings you here?”

I’m not well, not at all… Not well enough to even speak of it.

Hearing her question, Chu Shixiu’s smile vanished instantly.

He gazed quietly at her soft, petite face, struggling to find words for the first time.

After a long silence, he finally heard his own slightly stiff voice, “I’m here to pick up… my fiancée. She’s attending a banquet here.”

Fiancée…

Chu Shixiu never lied. Of course, there was no need to deceive a friend he hadn’t seen in nine years. It was pointless.

Her heart ached painfully, yet she forced a smile.

Gu Xiaoai could barely suppress the pain in her heart, so she exaggeratedly pretended to just remember, “Oh right, I heard on the news. You’re engaged to Mayor Liang’s Young Lady. You two make a perfect couple. Congratulations.”

Congratulations?

Congratulating him?

Why… didn’t he feel any joy from her blessing?

Hearing her words, Chu Shixiu’s face remained expressionless, his gaze fixed intently on her, saying nothing.

His silence left Gu Xiaoai at a loss for words.

As the awkwardness lingered, she wondered if she could maintain her facade of a smile.

“When are you planning to get married?” Gu Xiaoai grasped for a topic, trying to act like an old friend, calm and composed, “It’s been nine years in a blink. I didn’t expect you’d be settling down…”

“Did you see the ads I put out looking for you?” Chu Shixiu interrupted, a gentle yet stubborn determination in his eyes, “I’ve been searching for you all this time.”

He had been looking for her for nine whole years.

He had been thinking of her for nine long years.

When he saw her silhouette in the hallway, he was completely stunned, thinking it was another figment of his imagination.

But this time, he hadn’t been drinking. He saw Xiao Ai, the real her.

In that moment, he acted without thinking, embracing her from behind.

He was so afraid… that he would embrace nothing but an illusion.