Chapter 284: The Train and the Snow

——

"Is that so."

Although she had been rejected, Yun Mu did not feel surprised in the slightest.

After all, Beiliya's personality seemed quite strong-willed, and how should one put it—is she a tsundere? It's already 2024, tsunderes have long since gone out of style! Standing on the deck of the Xiangyang, Yun Mu looked out at the scenery of the entire Folaka Town and thought to herself.

"Boom!"

Bursts of thunder suddenly came from the sky, and the radiance of the sun was obscured by thick rain clouds.

Coupled with the gradually intensifying cold Wind, even without the skill of Navigation, Yun Mu could judge the likelihood of rain to come.

No, it should be snow.

"Hey, you few, it's time to go home." She turned her head to look at Qigefei and Aersasi, who were roughhousing on the deck, and said.

"It's about to snow, don't let your families worry." She added at the end.

At this moment, nearly twenty minutes had passed since Yun Mu brought them onto the ship; if it were just for a tour, that should have been enough.

As for the space inside the ship's cabin, they could wait until they grew up and experience riding a ship for themselves.

There was no need to own a ship; spending money to ride a passenger ship or a merchant ship would suffice. Any adult capable of earning money should be able to manage that.

"Alright."

Qigefei had wanted to take this opportunity to have Yun Mu take them into the cabin to have a look, but upon hearing the latter part of her words and remembering that his family was still waiting for him, his whole demeanor wilted instantly.

"There will be chances in the future." Seeing him like this, Yun Mu comforted him.

"Do you need me to send you back, you little rascals?" She said, feigning provocation.

"No need! You're not even that tall yourself, you guy." Hearing her words, Qigefei was somewhat indignant.

He pulled Aersasi and Beiliya along and left the ship.

Just at this moment, Brenna, who had finished purchasing supplies, returned to the ship. Noticing the three little ones walking past her, she gave Yun Mu a somewhat strange look.

"Three little kids wanted to tour the Xiangyang, so I took them to see it." Noticing Brenna's gaze, Yun Mu crossed her arms over her chest and explained.

"Oh." Brenna nodded, not particularly concerned about the matter.

"It's about to snow, don't you need to call the crew back?" Yun Mu asked Brenna.

"No need." Brenna denied: "The crew members are all adults; they will take care of themselves."

"Whether they are staying at an inn or soaking in a bar, it's fine as long as they can return before we set sail tomorrow morning." She paused and added: "It doesn't matter if they can't make it back; we can just leave those crew members who didn't return behind."

"After all, setting sail is more important than anything else. We cannot waste time waiting for a crew member just because they didn't return."

"As long as it doesn't affect the departure, we can just recruit new crew members to fill the spots at the next stop."

"Heh, though such a problem shouldn't occur on our ship." Brenna smiled at the end.

"Sigh." Yun Mu suddenly let out a sigh.

She said: "I had thought that the time with nothing to do only existed when sailing on the sea, yet when the Xiangyang is docked at the shore, I realized I still have nothing to do."

"That is the norm for sailing at sea; you will get used to it, our Captain." Listening to Yun Mu's lament, Brenna patted her shoulder.

"Well, if you are truly bored, why not go check out the tavern in the small town?" Before leaving, Brenna suddenly thought of something and suggested to her.

"Hahaha, I won again!"

"Hurry up and hand over the money!"

Inside the only tavern in Folaka Town, because of the arrival of the Xiangyang, the place was livelier than usual.

A burly man threw the cards in his hand onto the table, then laughed loudly as he raked the chips everyone had placed on the table toward himself.

"You motherfucking piece of shit, you've won three rounds in a row, are you cheating!?"

A man with a chin full of beard and bulging muscles looked at the chips in front of him being snatched away, and in a fit of rage, pointed at the burly man's nose and questioned him.

"Bang!"

"Who are you saying is cheating?"

Hearing this, the smile on the burly man's face vanished instantly. He bared his teeth, revealing a mouthful of ghastly white fangs, then clenched his fist and slammed it lightly onto the table covered in chips.

"Bang!!"

The bearded man's eyes widened like a pair of copper bells; ignoring the fact that the table was full of chips, he slammed the table and stood up with a bang!

"I'm talking about you, you piece of shit!"

"Grass!" Seeing the chips falling all over the floor, the burly man immediately let out a curse.

"Damn it, if you're bad, practice more. If you can't afford to lose, why the fuck are you playing!?" He stood up abruptly, his whole body exuding a fierce aura.

"Hahaha, fight, fight!"

"Hurry up and beat him, damn it, winning three games in a row must be cheating, I've long since found him unpleasant!"

"You coward, why didn't you speak up earlier? Winning three games counts as cheating? You're bad yourself and have the nerve to blame others, you motherfucker, you'll be the death of me."

The other players at the same table distanced themselves from the two, egging them on, happy to watch the chaos.

"Ah, this..."

Yun Mu had just arrived at the tavern and saw this scene, and was momentarily dumbfounded.

She didn't recognize that burly man; he was likely a local of Folaka Town. As for the bearded man, she did have some impression of him.

Yun Mu remembered he should be the observer of the Xiangyang, who usually spent most of his time on the mast looking out at the distant sea surface and the state of the clouds in the sky, etc.

The bearded man's observation skills were very strong; his claim that the burly man was cheating might not be groundless.

That said, Yun Mu had no intention of helping her crew member.

Firstly, she did not know the full picture of the situation; perhaps that burly man really wasn't cheating? Of course, as the Captain, even if the other party wasn't cheating, she should stand on the side of her crew member at a time like this, though she would definitely have to reprimand the bearded man afterward—well, that was the normal way to handle it.

As for the second reason for not wanting to help, it was that Yun Mu knew that as a crew member of the Xiangyang carefully selected by Brenna, the bearded man's strength would definitely not be weak.

If he couldn't even deal with an ordinary person in a border town, then he might as well pack his bags and get off the ship early.

Sure enough, under Yun Mu's gaze, the bearded man easily dodged the burly man's attack, then landed a fierce uppercut on the burly man's chin.

He knocked him directly to the ground, and he fainted.

Afterwards, he bent down and began to rummage through the burly man's body; before long, he fished out several cards used for cheating from his trouser pocket.

"Hmph!"

Seeing this, the bearded man let out a cold snort, tossed these cards onto the burly man's body, and then turned around to take back all the chips he had lost.

He looked a bit disappointed, and just as he was about to go to the front desk to exchange his chips for money, he suddenly noticed Yun Mu watching from the sidelines.

Yo, isn't this the Captain of their Xiangyang? What is she doing in the tavern? The bearded man was a bit surprised, but he immediately dismissed the idea of leaving the tavern. So he went to the front desk and slapped five Silver Frost Coins on the counter: "Exchange five more chips for me."

In the tavern, one Silver Frost Coin could be exchanged for one chip; as for Frost Coins? If you're already gambling with Frost Coins, why would you need chips? "Ah, oh, okay." The middle-aged man at the front desk, who was both bartender and part-time dealer, was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly handed five beer bottle caps to the bearded man.

After all, this is a tavern, not a casino; although there is a service for exchanging chips, it is only to add a bit of atmosphere.

Moreover, the tavern does not provide money-lending services, and even when gambling, it is mostly just for fun after drinking.

There aren't many people in the small town, and the townspeople basically all know each other; there's no benefit in offending anyone, is there?

As for that burly man, everyone actually knew he was cheating, they were just working together to swindle money from outsiders.

Otherwise, how would they be willing to shell out so much Silver Frost to exchange for chips?

Usually, when playing, they just bet a few Frost Coins and that's it! They had intended to split the loot afterwards, but now it seems there is likely no need for that.

It was precisely because he saw this that the bearded man was prepared to leave the tavern, but Yun Mu's arrival at this moment made him abandon that thought.

"Want to play a round?" The bearded man walked up to Yun Mu and handed her the five chips he had just exchanged.

"Hmm." Taking the beer bottle caps from the bearded man's hand, Yun Mu hesitated slightly for a moment.

"What are the rules?" She licked her lips and asked.

"Yay, I won again!"

Yun Mu tossed the last two cards in her hand onto the table, a smug smile appearing on her face.

This was already the fifth round she and the bearded man had played; except for the first round where she lost because she wasn't familiar with the rules, she had won all the remaining four rounds.

"Hey, hey, even for a beginner, this luck is a bit excessive."

The bearded man threw down the remaining cards in his hand with a look of resignation; with this round over, the chips he had just taken back were all lost again.

The most ridiculous part was that he could be certain Yun Mu was definitely not cheating; winning was entirely due to luck.

"Looks like my card luck is quite good today."

Using the chips the bearded man gave her to freeload the bearded man's money—although it wasn't much in total, it was all freeloaded—Yun Mu was in a pretty good mood.

As for why her luck was so good?

This certainly wasn't something that could be explained by beginner's luck; Yun Mu herself had some inkling.

She guessed this was likely the effect of the equipment 【Lucky Gold Coin】 with its +1 Luck attribute; besides that, when she previously learned Navigation, there was also a +1 Luck effect.

Although the increased value seemed small, it was precisely these two points of Luck attribute that became the key to her overwhelming the bearded man! Of course, the person opposite couldn't possibly know that.

"Not playing anymore, not playing anymore, my chips are all lost."

Facing Yun Mu's unstoppable luck, the bearded man decisively surrendered.

He didn't have the habit of continuing to give money to others when he knew he couldn't win.

Of course, the most important thing was that before setting sail, the wages Brenna had paid him had all been lost to Yun Mu.

If he lost any more, he would have to go drink the northwest wind.

"It's fine, we don't have to bet money, let's just play for fun." Yun Mu waved her hand, saying with a sense of wanting more.

Ever since she transmigrated, she hadn't experienced the joy of playing games for a long time; playing cards with the bearded man now felt quite addictive.

"Alright, as long as you're happy." The bearded man shrugged indifferently, then began to shuffle the cards.

"Come to think of it, Captain, what are you doing here?" He asked casually while shuffling the cards.

"Brenna told me to come over, because I said I had nothing to do and was a bit bored, so she recommended I come here." There was nothing to hide, so Yun Mu said truthfully.

"A tavern, huh? Most sailors do come here after going ashore."

"It's a pity you're a woman, Captain, otherwise when we reach some prosperous cities, you could go to more interesting places." The bearded man said with a deliberately mischievous smile.

"Hey, that place you're talking about, you don't mean..." Yun Mu raised an eyebrow, though she didn't point out exactly what place the bearded man was referring to.

"Hahaha, since you're already here, aren't you planning to have a drink, Captain?" Seeing that Yun Mu knew what place he meant, the bearded man laughed awkwardly; he spread the shuffled cards on the table and decisively changed the subject.

"Sure."

It just so happened that Yun Mu also felt a bit thirsty; hearing the bearded man's suggestion, she immediately called out to the bartender standing behind the bar: "Bartender, two glasses of wheat soda, make them large!"

"Wheat soda?" The bartender was slightly stunned; although soda water existed in this era, it was only sold on a small scale in pharmacies, and the term "soda" hadn't become popular yet.

However, when it came to wheat, the bartender probably knew what Yun Mu was referring to.

"Here, two large glasses of beer."

He placed the large glass mugs filled with beer onto the table where Yun Mu and the bearded man were.

"Gulp, gulp..."

Without any hesitation, Yun Mu lifted her glass and drank more than half of it.

Seeing this, the bearded man couldn't help but exclaim "Heroic," then likewise lifted his glass and drank it down in big gulps.

As for what happened afterwards, Yun Mu couldn't quite remember.

Of course, she didn't have the problem of falling over at the first touch of alcohol; in fact, she could drink quite a lot.

It was just last night.

Perhaps it was because her personal Charm was too strong, but for some reason, nearly half of the crew had gathered in the tavern.

Then Yun Mu drank, bragged, arm-wrestled, and played cards with the crew of the Xiangyang; in short, it was very lively.

One careless moment, and it went on until nearly dawn.

Good news: nearly all the crew members had been defeated by her personal Charm.

Bad news: it was achieved by drinking, chatting, and playing cards together.

Just kidding, a young girl Captain who has almost never lost at cards, has never lost at arm wrestling, and can even brag with the crew is truly amazing, isn't she? Combining wisdom (referring to card games), strength (never lost at arm wrestling), and beauty (extraordinary Charm), let us pay tribute to our great Captain Yun Mu!

"Let me think, last night, it seems it was Brenna who came to the tavern and dragged me back."

At that time, although she was drunk, she hadn't lost consciousness yet, and she apparently asked Brenna for a hug afterward, but was shunned by the other party because she smelled of alcohol. "So, am I on the ship now?"

Yun Mu opened her eyes and stepped down from the bed in the Captain's quarters.

Her powerful recovery ability meant she had absolutely none of the sensations one should have after a hangover.

Or rather, wait, it seems she has advanced to Expert?

(End of chapter)