Mom's Back. The Villain Triplets Are in Trouble.

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The Self-Righteously Affectionate Bastard

For reasons unknown, Gu Xifeng actually paid an additional fee to follow them into the villa.

Gu Qingyin mused to herself, ’A fool with too much money. He could become a long-term client.’

The moment the three of them stepped inside, the villa’s door slammed shut impatiently.

Gu Xifeng jumped in fright. He stared back at the door for a few seconds before turning around, his expression tense. He said nothing, but he subconsciously took two quick steps forward until he was almost pressed against Liu Ergou.

He bumped into Gu Qingyin, who grumbled unhappily, "If you’re this much of a coward, what are you even doing in here?"

Gu Xifeng heard her and said dryly, "I paid."

Gu Qingyin thought that was fair. She dutifully rummaged through her satchel, pulled out two talismans, and handed them to him. "Here, take these. They’ll keep you safe."

Gu Xifeng clenched one in each hand. Only after he breathed a sigh of relief did he realize his back felt a little cold—he had been so scared he’d broken out in a sweat, and his clothes were damp.

Liu Ergou cautiously removed the cloth wrapping from his back, revealing a sheathless copper coin sword.

Gu Xifeng shot several glances at it. It looked vaguely familiar, and after a moment, he remembered. He seemed to have seen something similar in zombie movies when he was a kid.

’Aren’t the things in movies just made up? Could there actually be some truth to them?’

Gu Xifeng looked at Gu Qingyin again. "What about yours?"

"What?" Gu Qingyin was completely baffled.

"Your weapon? For catching ghosts, fighting them?"

"Oh, I major in talismans. I don’t use a specific Magic Artifact."

Gu Xifeng quickly made the connection in his mind. ’Liu Daoist is the warrior, and Gu Qingyin is the Mage...’

Liu Ergou couldn’t help but grin. Of course Gu Qingyin didn’t need a Magic Artifact. Her fists were far more effective, delivering physical salvation—one punch per ghostly friend.

Gu Xifeng was about to say more, but a whirlwind suddenly materialized inside the room, and an icy chill swept over his entire body. He immediately shut his mouth. Pressing close to Liu Ergou once more, he made sure to angle himself so that Gu Qingyin was behind him.

"What’s her name?" Gu Qingyin asked.

Gu Xifeng froze for a second, then uttered a name with a complicated expression, "Dai Jingyan."

The moment he spoke, the sinister wind in the room not only intensified, but shrill shrieks also echoed all around, forcing the three of them to shut their eyes against the gale. Because of this, they didn’t see the surrounding Yin Qi surge and slowly recede, revealing a scene that had no business being inside the villa.

The wind stopped. Gu Xifeng opened his eyes and froze, staring at the familiar yet strange scene before him. His lips trembled as he breathed out three barely audible words, "Dai Family Mansion..."

Gu Qingyin and Liu Ergou also surveyed their surroundings. Ghost Realms were common, but it was rare to see one this detailed.

Children chasing each other playfully in the courtyard, adults chatting idly in the shade of a tree, the smell of cooking drifting from the building... every detail was incredibly real.

This must have been one of the most important memories of Dai Jingyan’s life.

Neither of them made a rash move. The more they understood about her life before she died, the easier it would be to find the source of her resentment, and thus, the easier it would be to eliminate it.

"AH!"

A short scream drew the trio’s attention. Following the sound, they saw a little girl of four or five sitting on the ground, with a slightly older boy standing opposite her.

Gu Xifeng was stunned.

Gu Qingyin and Liu Ergou could tell that the boy was a young Gu Xifeng. How to put it... it was as if he had simply been scaled up to his current size, without a single feature out of place.

The little girl who had fallen to the ground was, in all likelihood, the master of this Ghost Realm, Dai Jingyan.

"I’m sorry..." The little girl picked herself up, her face red as she apologized timidly.

The young Gu Xifeng glanced down at her, let out a cold snort, and walked away.

Gu Qingyin: ’...What a rude little brat!’

The next second, the scene changed. The young Gu Xifeng and Dai Jingyan were a bit older, and their relationship seemed to have improved somewhat.

The two of them, one tall and one small, were walking out of the courtyard with backpacks on. The young Gu Xifeng wore a straight face, while a radiant smile graced young Jing Yan’s face. She turned to wave at the parents standing at the gate, chirping excitedly, "Brother Gu promised to walk to school with me!"

Hearing this, the young Gu Xifeng, who was walking ahead, allowed the corners of his lips to curl up slightly. He looked happy, too.

Afterward, through middle school and high school, their bond grew stronger and stronger. But just before high school graduation, Gu Xifeng was taken away by several men in sharp suits.

And just like that, the childhood sweethearts were forced apart.

On the day Gu Xifeng left, Dai Jingyan stood in the spot where they first met. She looked up at the moonlight and murmured to herself, "See you in college..."

But things didn’t go as planned. When Dai Jingyan got to college, she discovered that Gu Xifeng had never even enrolled.

Two years later, they met again by chance. Gu Xifeng already had a fiancée.

Dai Jingyan acted nonchalant, but at night, she cried her pillow wet. She wanted to find Gu Xifeng and demand an explanation, but she had no right to. They had never officially been together.

Even though they both knew in their hearts that they had once been in love.

Dai Jingyan resolved to forget Gu Xifeng. She threw herself into her studies, worked part-time jobs, and expanded her social circle... she didn’t want to stop for even a minute.

It was remarkably effective; she found herself thinking about Gu Xifeng less and less.

Until the second semester of her senior year, when she accepted the advances of a younger student.

But before she could even enjoy the new relationship, on the second day of their courtship, she fainted on the street and was carried away.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in this villa.

What followed was three long years of imprisonment.

Dai Jingyan had cried, raged, begged, and even attempted suicide... but it was all useless. Gu Xifeng would never let her leave.

"Jing Yan, I love you. Please, just wait for me a little longer. Once I’ve stabilized my position, I’ll divorce her. I’ll marry you."

Gu Xifeng always acted so deeply affectionate and sorrowful.

Eventually, Dai Jingyan grew quiet. She no longer cried or threw tantrums.

When Gu Xifeng came to visit, she was like a wife waiting for her husband to return home, caring for him with meticulous attention to detail.

When Gu Xifeng wasn’t there, she would just sit in one spot and stare out the window, often for an entire day without realizing it.

That period was the sweetest time the two of them ever had.

Because of this, Gu Xifeng lowered his guard. Dai Jingyan finally found her chance and took poison to end her own life.

Dai Jingyan had sought liberation, but before her soul could even be reincarnated, she was captured by a Heavenly Master hired by Gu Xifeng and imprisoned once more.

Dai Jingyan was on the verge of madness. She couldn’t stop the resentment from taking root.

She resented their childhood meeting, resented the budding love of her youth, resented her own inability to let go, but most of all, she resented Gu Xifeng’s self-proclaimed devotion.

In truth, Dai Jingyan had figured it out long ago.

Gu Xifeng didn’t really love her that much. He loved the version of himself from his youth who couldn’t get what he wanted; the version of himself who felt utterly humiliated by a forced marriage; the version of himself whose ambition grew after tasting wealth and luxury.

To put it bluntly, Dai Jingyan was just a pawn—a tool Gu Xifeng used to both rebel and remind himself.

The final scene was of Dai Jingyan’s eyes turning crimson as she was completely consumed by resentment.

The villa returned to normal. Dai Jingyan’s form slowly materialized, her emotionless red eyes fixed intently on Gu Xifeng.

By this point, Gu Xifeng’s face was streaked with tears.

Only upon reviewing their history did he realize what a complete bastard he had been.

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