Chapter 349- Fierce and Ominous Top VS Pretend Weak but Actually a Big Boss (15)
She believed that if she decided to take action, Wu Po would quickly leave Mu Jin and fall for her charms.
Just the thought of Wu Po being with her and the ugly expression that would appear on Mu Jin’s face greatly improved the heroine’s mood.
However, she also realized that today’s incident served as a wake-up call. The plants in this world differed from those in her original world, and their properties couldn’t be generalized.
It seemed that next time she wanted to share her knowledge with others, it would be best to test it first to avoid giving others an opportunity to embarrass her.
The next day, the action-oriented heroine began her pursuit of Wu Po.
Her so-called pursuit mainly involved feigned coincidental encounters, gestures of goodwill, and offering Wu Po some food she had made herself.
But since the heroine was originally just a university student with no real cooking skills, her abilities were limited. After arriving in this primitive world without modern kitchen tools, the only thing she had learned was how to roast meat.
By now, however, Wu Po’s palate had been spoiled by the delicious food prepared by Mu Jin. The poorly cooked roasted meat the heroine offered him didn’t tempt him in the slightest. In fact, he found her behavior strange.
This woman had recently been circling around him like an annoying fly, always appearing in his vicinity.
Although she acted friendly on the surface, the way she looked at him—like she was evaluating a commodity—made Wu Po uncomfortable.
He couldn’t quite articulate what her gaze implied, but he had a strong sense that this woman had ulterior motives for approaching him. This only made him more unwilling to engage with Mu Xuan.
What Mu Xuan didn’t know was that everything she had been doing had already been noticed by Wu Peng. As Wu Peng approached with a freshly hunted animal intended for Mu Xuan, he happened to see her pestering Wu Po. Wu Po’s face clearly showed impatience.
Looking down at the prey in his hands, Wu Peng eventually turned away, his expression dark and somber.
Wu Peng did genuinely like Mu Xuan. Even when she made a mistake with the herbs last time, he didn’t hold it against her. However, these past few days, perhaps because he had been paying more attention, he started to realize that his impression of Mu Xuan might have been overly idealized.
Mu Xuan wasn’t as gentle and kind as he had imagined. In fact, she seemed fickle and indecisive. She clearly knew that Wu Po and Mu Jin were a couple, yet she repeatedly tried to ingratiate herself with Wu Po. To Wu Peng, this was unacceptable.
Regardless of whether Wu Po was cursed or not, and while it’s fair to openly pursue someone you like, Wu Po and Mu Jin’s relationship was solid. It was well-known that they were committed to one another, and Wu Po was undoubtedly Mu Jin’s future partner.
Given this widely acknowledged fact, Mu Xuan should not have been pestering Wu Po. Moreover, she had always behaved ambiguously toward Wu Peng, leading many in the tribe to assume she would eventually become his partner. Yet now, what exactly was she doing?
Wu Peng had his own sense of pride. If Mu Xuan didn’t like him, she should have rejected him outright from the beginning. He wouldn’t have pursued her any further. But instead, Mu Xuan neither fully accepted him nor clearly pushed him away, all while coveting someone else.
Her fickleness and indecisiveness were traits Wu Peng could not accept.
Taking a deep breath, Wu Peng made up his mind. Since Mu Xuan couldn’t make a clear choice, perhaps he no longer needed to waste his time and energy on her.
At this moment, Mu Xuan’s entire focus was on Wu Po, scheming about how to embarrass Mu Jin. She was so preoccupied that she hadn’t even noticed Wu Peng’s recent lack of attention toward her. After all, Wu Peng wasn’t her only suitor.
As for Mu Jin, he was well aware of the heroine’s actions and looked down on her antics with disdain. He had full confidence in his man’s loyalty, knowing that Wu Po wouldn’t fall for anyone else.
Still, he couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy. To vent his frustrations, Mu Jin playfully threw a few tantrums at Wu Po, which, in turn, earned him plenty of kisses and hugs. The affection left Mu Jin beaming with delight.
Realizing that Mu Jin’s “punishments” were more like rewards, Wu Po was happy to indulge him. However, this didn’t make him any kinder to Mu Xuan. After Mu Jin pointed out her true intentions, Wu Po became even more repulsed by her advances.
Seeing the obvious disgust in Wu Po’s eyes whenever he looked at her lately, Mu Xuan thought he must be crazy. How could he reject the affections of a beauty like her and even respond with harsh words? To her, it was downright ungrateful.
Completely absorbed in pursuing Wu Po, Mu Xuan failed to notice the rising status of Mu Jin within the tribe.
Mu Jin frequently joined the foraging team, and after the last incident, everyone became fully convinced of his background as a student of the priest in his former tribe. His extensive knowledge of herbs and other useful skills only solidified this belief.
Mu Jin was generous with his knowledge. To him, the people in this primitive tribe were relatively simple-hearted. Very few of them had intentionally bullied or harmed Wu Po.
Most of the foraging team members, being among the weaker individuals in the tribe, were more fearful of Wu Po than hostile. They usually avoided him out of fear and certainly wouldn’t go out of their way to cause trouble for him.
Mu Jin shared his valuable knowledge with the foraging team, earning their gratitude. As a result, his reputation within the Pingshan tribe continued to rise, and word of this even reached the ears of the tribe’s priest.
In every tribe, priests were highly revered, considered gifts from the gods. The Pingshan tribe’s priest believed that he was specially favored by the gods, which was why his mentor had chosen to pass down the priestly teachings to him.
However, Mu Jin’s sudden appearance—and the fact that he also possessed extensive knowledge of medicine and willingly shared it with the tribe—left the priest puzzled. This behavior was completely at odds with his mentor’s instructions.
To the priest, such knowledge was divine, meant solely for priests as a sacred gift from the gods, not to be casually disclosed to others. Curious, he specifically asked Wu He, who had come to him for herbs, about Mu Jin.
Wu He, now thoroughly impressed by Mu Jin’s expertise, had immense respect for him. For years, Wu He had sought herbs from the priest to treat his grandmother, but her health had never improved. The priest had even said that her condition was unlikely to get any better in this lifetime.
Yet, after Mu Jin arrived, his treatments brought visible improvement to Wu He’s grandmother’s health. To Wu He, Mu Jin was far more skilled than the priest—though he dared not say this directly. Still, this didn’t stop him from praising Mu Jin enthusiastically in front of the priest.
Hearing about Mu Jin’s extraordinary abilities, the priest instructed Wu He to bring Mu Jin to see him.
When Wu He arrived, Wu Po was initially pleased and offered him some freshly hunted food. However, upon hearing that the priest wanted to meet Mu Jin alone, Wu Po’s expression instantly became tense.
Back then, it was the priest who declared Wu Po to be an ill-fated person within the tribe, making his early years unbearably difficult. Now, after finally finding happiness with Mu Jin and just beginning to enjoy a beautiful life together, Wu Po was deeply worried that the priest might say something to Mu Jin.
To Wu Po, Mu Jin was also someone blessed by the gods. Since both the priest and Mu Jin had strong faith in the gods, he feared that the priest might persuade Mu Jin to believe he was indeed cursed.
The thought of Mu Jin one day looking at him with the same disgusted gaze as the others was something Wu Po couldn’t bear to imagine.
Mu Jin noticed Wu Po’s unease and immediately moved closer, wrapping his arms around Wupo’s arm.
Unbothered by Wu He standing nearby, Mu Jin lifted his head and placed a gentle kiss on Wu Po’s cheek, softly reassuring him, “Don’t worry. No matter what the priest says to me, it won’t affect our relationship.”
Hearing these words, Wu Po finally felt a bit more at ease. However, he still refused to let Mu Jin go alone and personally escorted him to the vicinity of the priest’s dwelling.
As someone considered cursed by the tribe, Wu Po wasn’t allowed to freely enter the priest’s residence. Even so, he stubbornly waited not far away, insisting he would stay until Mu Jin came out.
Seeing Wu Po like this, Mu Jin’s heart ached for him. He leaned in to plant a quick kiss on the corner of Wu Po’s lips before hurrying into the priest’s cave, determined to resolve things quickly.
Once inside, Mu Jin was met with an elderly figure dressed in a long skirt made of animal hides. The priest looked sharp and alert, with long hair tied up using animal bones and adorned with bird feathers. His face was painted with symbols in mud, giving him an air of mystique.
The priest was busy grinding fresh herbs in his hands. When Mu Jin entered, the priest didn’t show any particular emotion. Instead, he piled the herbs in front of Mu Jin and asked, “Do you recognize what these herbs are?”
Mu Jin raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He hadn’t expected that after being summoned by the priest, the first thing the priest would do was test him with herbs.
The herbs in front of him seemed to vary widely in type, and some were even quite rare in the forest.
However, Mu Jin didn’t try to hide anything. Casually, he named each herb and explained its medicinal properties, earning a surprised exclamation from the priest.
Seeing that Mu Jin was indeed knowledgeable, the priest continued, “I heard from Wu He that you told him to dry the snake gall and grind it into powder for his grandmother to take. You also gave him a root-like herb, and I’ve brought a small piece of it myself.”
“This herb is something I’ve never heard of before, and I never knew certain animal organs could be used in medicine. So, I imagine you must know many other medicinal uses as well.”
Mu Jin nodded in response, not denying the priest’s words.
Upon seeing Mu Jin’s affirmative answer, the priest felt a surge of excitement. The herbs he had asked Mu Jin to identify were all the varieties he was familiar with, yet Mu Jin clearly knew much more than he did.
Although the priest was reluctant to admit it, this young man in front of him was undoubtedly more capable than the priest himself, who had lived for decades.
For years, the priest had been searching for a suitable successor, but despite his efforts, he hadn’t found anyone in the Pingshan Tribe who seemed right. Yet Mu Jin was clearly the most suitable candidate. If Mu Jin became the priest, he would surely bring great benefit to the Pingshan Tribe.
Thinking this, the old priest could hardly contain his excitement and asked Mu Jin, “Would you like to become a priest?”
Mu Jin was momentarily stunned. He hadn’t expected the old priest to ask him such a question so suddenly.
Inwardly, he couldn’t help but think: So, after all this trouble, you’ve come all this way just to see if I’m fit to be your successor?