In the kitchen, Gus, who was busy cooking, couldn't help but peek his head out. He thought for a moment, then said, "No wonder. I remember when Penny went to Lewis to ask for a little education fund for the kids, to buy some books or something, Lewis said he didn't have the money."
"An education fund, huh? I heard Vincent and the others already received some new books, didn't they?" Hearing this, Emily turned her head and exchanged a look with Gus, covering her mouth in disbelief. "Don't tell me this was from Ron too."
"It's very possible," Gus said, placing the finished spaghetti in front of Meowth. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt like he had seen a shadow flash by the doorway just now.
But it wasn't surprising for someone to be passing by the door at this hour. Thinking this, Gus asked, "By the way, Meowth, why are you asking about this?"
"It's nothing, meow." Meowth sniffed the spaghetti placed before it. Because it had just come out of the kitchen, it was still a bit hot for Meowth, so it asked, "Speaking of which, if you guys got rich, what would you do with the money?"
"Hmm— Me? I don't know, I've never thought about that question— If I had a large sum of money, I'd first let Snorlax try some of the things I was reluctant to give it before. Yeah, let it eat its fill all at once."
Snorlax, who was sleeping, seemed to sense something. It lifted its head, glanced at the counter, and called out: "Snor~"
"But not now." Gus turned to look at Snorlax. "I'm not rich yet, so you can't eat your fill."
Hearing this, Snorlax sadly lay its head back down and continued sleeping.
"As for me— I'd open the biggest fashion store in all of Ferngill Republic!" Emily couldn't help but say. "I'd let everyone in Ferngill wear the clothes I make!"
"Is that so, meow." Meowth blew on the spaghetti on its plate, used its fork to spear a piece, and fed it to its mouth: "It tastes really good, meow!"
"Gus's spaghetti is definitely top-tier in Pelican Town," Emily said. "By the way, what about you, Meowth?"
"Meowth? If Meowth had money— I'd be running Team Rocket—" Meowth hastily swallowed the rest of its words.
"Team Rocket?" Emily repeated in confusion.
Meowth let out a nervous laugh: "It's nothing, meow. Meowth is just a Pokémon, meow. It's no use for Meowth to have money, meow."
Hearing this, the two of them finally realized.
"In my hometown, there's a saying, meow." Meowth took another bite and said, "'Giving gold coins to a cat.' It means wasting pearls on a swine."
Emily couldn't help but laugh. She took Meowth's cup, refilled it with milk, and placed it by Meowth's side, then said, "But come to think of it— Ron is really amazing. That money he gave Penny's family was probably all his profits from the farm for more than half the year."
Gus, inside the kitchen, nodded in agreement.
"Is that so, meow." Meowth paused, continuing to ponder the problem it had been wrestling with.
On the other side, Penny returned home.
Because it wasn't time for Pam to get off work yet, the house was dark inside.
After closing the door, Penny leaned against it, not turning on the lights. Using the faint light from outside, she surveyed everything in the room.
"How could it be him—" Penny murmured.
She couldn't quite describe her feelings at this moment; in short, she was feeling a bit of a mix of everything.
On one hand, she was moved, thinking about how Ron, just so her family could move into a new house before winter, had lent them more than half a year's worth of his farm's profits.
And he had never mentioned it.
On the other hand, after learning that she had received such a great favor from Ron, she felt a bit at a loss as to how to face him.
Penny closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and only then turned on the light. She walked to the fireplace and started a fire.
Recalling everything that had happened before the new house was built, Penny finally connected the subtle details she hadn't noticed before.
In her mind, it constructed an image of Ron.
The fire flickered in the fireplace, just like her girlish thoughts at this moment.
Today was Evelyn's birthday. Ron had picked a Fairy Rose from the farm, preparing to give it to Evelyn.
It was already getting late. After arriving at Evelyn's house, Ron knocked on the door, and Evelyn came out and opened it.
"Oh, you're here too?" Evelyn smiled at Ron.
She immediately caught the scent of the Fairy Rose and said, "Are you here to give Granny a birthday present too?"
Ron nodded, handing the Fairy Rose to Evelyn. "There's also some tea. It's infused with the Fairy Rose's aroma. I thought you might like it."
Evelyn smilingly accepted the Fairy Rose and the accompanying can of tea.
After getting older, she didn't have much to do each day. She would just brew some tea, bake some cookies, and sit quietly by the table for an afternoon.
"That's very thoughtful of you. Want to come in and sit for a while?" Evelyn asked.
—
Seeing Ron shake his head, Evelyn didn't insist: "I heard you went to Ginger Island a few days ago? You must have been busy planting the land there, right?"
"Yeah, it's mostly cleared up. I came back today to buy some seeds to take over and plant tomorrow," Ron replied.
"That fast? That's wonderful—" Evelyn seemed to be lost in memory. She continued, "I remember when your grandfather went there, it took him half a month to get that place in shape— It took about half a month before I saw him come back on the boat with Willy."
After speaking, Evelyn seemed to remember something. She went inside and brought out a flower pot, along with a blueprint for crafting one: "Oh, right, here you go. With this, you'll be able to grow crops indoors later— though it's not as convenient as a greenhouse."
Ron thanked Evelyn and put the items away.
"Don't mention it. Just consider it a gift from an old farmer," Evelyn said with a smile.
Just as Ron was wondering if he should say a bit more to Evelyn before taking his leave, Evelyn seemed to notice something from behind him. She looked at him with a smile: "I won't keep you. Hurry on home."
As she spoke, Evelyn glanced over in that direction again and then closed the door.
Before Ron could react, a voice came from behind him.
"Ron."
Ron turned his head and saw Penny standing not far away. It was still snowing outside. Large flakes of snow, illuminated by the streetlights, drifted gracefully to the ground.
She must have been standing there for a while, as a little snow had already fallen on her head. Seeing Ron look at her, Penny's eyes curved as she said softly, "What a coincidence, running into you here."
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