The Dramatic Crown Princess Wants to Poison Me!-Chapter 114: My Name

The phrase "big task" coming from Mo Qingfeng’s mouth made Xia Wenjin very suspicious. She glanced him up and down: "Your idea of a big task is swindling, impersonating, and freeloading off others?"

"How can you say that? Isn’t it to make roaming the Jianghu... uh, the mundane world more convenient? As a reclusive expert, I casually take an identity to simplify complex matters. Have you never heard ’Those who achieve great things do not fuss over trifles’?"

"Alright, alright," Xia Wenjin said, suppressing a laugh. "Okay, reclusive expert, what exactly is this ’great task’ you’re planning? If you can’t explain it clearly, just the River God incident in River Mouth Village is reason enough for me not to let you off the hook!"

Mo Qingfeng retorted unhappily, "Why should I explain anything to you? This starts with my master, who saw some strange phenomena by observing the stars and tasked me with finding someone!"

"What happens when you find them?"

"Help them, of course!" He shot Xia Wenjin a disdainful look. "What, you think I’d kill them or something?"

Xia Wenjin: "..."

Did she really seem that violent to people?

She changed the subject: "You don’t even know who you’re looking for. What if they were right in front of you and you couldn’t recognize them? You’re setting yourself up to be used. Just like you did with those villagers in River Mouth Village..."

"Can you just let it go with River Mouth Village?" Mo Qingfeng said with exasperation. "Although pretending to be the River God was wrong, it was to avoid causing panic and to lure out the villains. I’ve told you this, so why are you still nagging? Besides, even though I don’t know who exactly to look for, I’m sure I’ll recognize them if they’re in front of me!"

"Then tell me about it!"

"Why should I tell you?" Mo Qingfeng rolled his eyes dramatically, crossing his leg, looking completely careless.

"I don’t need you to tell me, I already know!"

Mo Qingfeng looked at her sideways with a mix of pride and disdain, "Then go ahead and say it!"

Watching his nonchalant manner, Xia Wenjin laughed: "The person you’re looking for seems to be hidden in the first line of that poem by your master."

Mo Qingfeng’s eyes darted around as he surveyed Xia Wenjin’s half-smiling expression, those bright eyes like stars that seemed to peer into one’s soul. He huffed, "So what if it is?"

Slowly, Xia Wenjin replied: "The person you’re looking for might be me!"

"Are you joking?" Mo Qingfeng scoffed. "A strikingly talented, resourcefully intelligent man like me, swayed by a little girl like you?"

"Isn’t the first line ’Wen Hua Chen Jin Xu Tianji’?"

"That’s right!"

Unfazed, Xia Wenjin continued: "My name is in there!"

"Your name?" Mo Qingfeng abruptly sat up, his crossed leg dropping, staring at her in surprise. "What’s your name?"

"My name is Xia Wenjin!"

Mo Qingfeng looked as if he had seen a ghost, eyes wide as if they could pop out, scanning Xia Wenjin up and down as if pondering something. Eventually, he laughed mockingly and said, "I almost got fooled by a little girl like you. Since my master saw it through stargazing, that person must be extraordinary, perhaps even crucial to the nation’s fate, potentially wielding power to shape the realm. Naturally, that person would be a man. You, a mere girl, why meddle? Shoo, shoo!"

Xia Wenjin chuckled, "Are you sure it’s not me?"

"Unless you can prove you’re actually a man!" Mo Qingfeng retorted sarcastically.

Xia Wenjin rolled her eyes, knowing it wasn’t her. Although her name was indeed in there, there were many people with the same name. Besides, all she wanted in her life was to seek justice and freedom with a carefree spirit, without ties to the Imperial Family or court officials. No riches or success awaited her because, in this life, she wasn’t planning to marry at all. So, there wouldn’t be any glorious future through a husband.

She was merely teasing Mo Qingfeng, who appeared so full of himself.

"If it’s not, then it’s not. Who cares?" Xia Wenjin pouted. "Even if you have a great master and are prodigiously talented, you can’t avoid facing the River Mouth Village incident. If you don’t help me find the villain and those missing women, I’ll expose your identity, and you’ll not even manage to pretend to be a monk anymore! Those you deceived will surely hate you, and you’ll become a beating target for all!"

"Always threatening people!"

"So, will you help or not?"

"I’ll help, okay?"

"You don’t mean to tell me, after all this time, you’ve done nothing at all?"

"Who says so? Why do you think I’m participating in tomorrow’s prophecy day? I’m living as a Bodhi Temple high monk now; my words carry weight! I’m planning to use this opportunity to warn the villains, hoping they’ll expose themselves!"

Xia Wenjin said: "Excuses! A warning? Self-exposure? Have you been living in the mountains so long that you’re naive?"

Mo Qingfeng’s face turned red with anger, "If you have a way, you do it! It’s a headless case, and I’ve considered everything I could. I’m not a god! Unlike my master, who inherited the Stargazing Method, what else can I do?"

Seeing him angry and embarrassed, and hearing him repeatedly mention the Stargazing Method, made Xia Wenjin suddenly feel a distaste. Thinking his master might be someone close to Huangfu Yuxuan made her even less interested. She said, "I don’t care about your issues, but the River God’s bride story cannot escalate further. I will find out who the villain is, just don’t get in my way!"

"Talking big!"

Xia Wenjin ignored him and stepped out from the shadow of the eaves, walking briskly along the ridge before descending to the ground and tracing her way back to her Zen room.

Watching her slender silhouette fade in the moonlight, Mo Qingfeng rubbed his shaved head. He had revealed quite a bit today, even his secret of shaving his head and burning scars to impersonate a monk. Oddly enough, facing that little girl, he couldn’t keep his mouth closed. He was usually tight-lipped, after all, using someone else’s identity to pose as a virtuous monk meant never telling the truth.

Yet with her, he felt a strange urge to confess everything.

This girl is something else!

Or maybe it’s her eyes?

So clear and deep, so pure and translucent, as if even if he didn’t speak, she could guess it all. The way she looked at him somehow made him feel an inexplicable trust.

Moreover, why did the poem given by his master contain this little girl’s name?

His master never said whether the person was male or female. Could it really be her?