Oh, It Was Three Million-I Thought It Was Thirty Thousand

After watching Gengar finish all three bowls of noodles, Chen Yan led Gengar out of the noodle shop.

"Let's check the balance at the bank first, then find a hotel room, put away our luggage, and take a shower before deciding what to do next. How does that sound?"

"Geng-"

Whatever you say.

"Then it's settled. Want to hide in my shadow for a bit, or stay in your Poké Ball? The bank probably won't let Pokémon inside."

"Geng-"

I'll go back into my Poké Ball.

Chen Yan nodded, took the backpack Gengar handed him, and slung it onto his back. Then he took Gengar's Poké Ball off his belt and recalled Gengar. After returning the ball to his belt, he headed toward the bank alone.

Entering the bank lobby, Chen Yan went straight to a self-service machine, inserted his bank card, and checked the travel funds Grandmother had prepared for him.

He had already planned to look for temporary jobs in every city he visited. Between those earnings and the payments the website sent him for his videos, he should not have to scrape by throughout his journey.

After entering the password Grandmother had given him, Chen Yan looked at the balance displayed on the machine and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions..."

"Oh, it was three million. I thought it was thirty thousand."

Chen Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead. That had given him a scare.

He had genuinely feared that Grandmother had handed over her entire lifetime's savings for his travel expenses.

Apparently, that was not the case.

Chen Yan reached out to retrieve his bank card, only to freeze with his hand halfway there.

"Wait! Did I count that wrong?"

Chen Yan counted again. "Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions..."

"Holy crap! Three million?!"

Chen Yan stared at the balance on the screen, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open, utterly petrified.

Had Grandmother really handed over her nest egg?

He pulled out his bank card, hurried out of the bank, and found a quiet corner before taking out his phone to call Grandmother.

Gengar popped out of the Poké Ball without prompting and looked at Chen Yan's grave expression. Though thoroughly puzzled, Gengar chose to stay quiet.

The call connected quickly, and Grandmother's voice came from the other side of the screen.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Grandmother called Chen Yan by the affectionate term country folk used for their children.

Hearing Grandmother's kindly voice, Chen Yan greeted her first, then tried to figure out how to ask about the balance on his bank card.

Before he could ask, Grandmother spoke.

"Did you see the balance on your bank card?"

Chen Yan froze. Only after a long while did he recover and say, "I can't hide anything from you, Grandmother. I just checked at the bank, and the balance..."

"Sweetheart, do you think I gave you a lot of money?"

"Hm?" Chen Yan nodded without hesitation.

"Oh, silly boy. You have no idea how expensive traveling is. The travel money I gave you might look like a lot, but it really won't go very far. It might only cover a short stretch of your journey."

"Huh? Really?" Chen Yan looked completely bewildered.

Traveling cost that much?

Then Ash and the others... had spent that much too?

No wonder they had always seemed so poor when he watched the anime. So that was why.

"You silly boy. When has your grandmother ever lied to you?"

At Grandmother's reproachful tone, Chen Yan hurried to respond.

"That's true. But you gave me so much, Grandmother... what about you...?"

"Don't worry about me. Of course I've kept some money for myself, much more than I gave you. And I've even set aside money for your wedding."

"Grandmother, remember to look after your health. I've still got things to do here, so I'll hang up now."

Seeing Grandmother about to steer the conversation toward marriage, Chen Yan hastily said a few more words and ended the call.

Sure enough... no matter where he went, there was no escaping that subject.

In the courtyard.

Grandmother sat on a swing with a Growlithe lying beside her, while Dragonite gently pushed the swing from behind.

Having heard Grandmother's entire conversation with Chen Yan, Dragonite could not help laughing.

Growlithe looked at Dragonite curiously.

So Dragonite could laugh too?

Holding Growlithe, Grandmother gazed at the scenery in the backyard. A faint gleam appeared in her cloudy eyes, then faded, leaving a look of reminiscence on her face.

"I suppose that counts as getting even for Gengar, doesn't it?"

After a long silence, Grandmother suddenly spoke.

"Rooar."

Dragonite gave a gentle rumble and nodded lightly.

After decades of living in human society, Dragonite had come to understand one principle very well.

When someone wanted to keep another person from noticing anything odd about what they said, they could steer the conversation toward a subject the other person did not want to hear about, then use that to end the conversation.

Meanwhile, in Twinleaf Town.

Chen Yan hung up and looked up to find Gengar watching him worriedly. Grinning, he tucked his phone into his pocket, reached out with both hands, and pulled Gengar's big cheeks outward, giving Gengar that signature mischievous grin as well.

"Don't worry. I just asked Grandmother a few things. Let's go shopping at the supermarket now, okay? We'll buy some ingredients and your snacks."

"Geng~"

Okay~

Chen Yan took Gengar into a supermarket. They went to the food section first, where he frowned at the prices marked on the various vegetables before starting to pick things out.

Carrots, leafy greens, eggs, potatoes, meat...

Chen Yan piled all sorts of ingredients into the cart. Once he had finished buying food, he went to the condiment section and added salt, soy sauce, cooking oil, oyster sauce, and various other seasonings. Before leaving, he glanced at the prices again, his brows drawing together slightly once more.

Next, he went to the tableware section to buy bowls and chopsticks for himself and Gengar. After spending quite a while choosing, Chen Yan glanced at the price and simply gave up comparing options. He picked up the set Gengar liked and put it straight into the cart. A few extra bowls would not hurt.

Once he had put all the everyday supplies they could use in the wilderness into the cart, Chen Yan took Gengar to the snack section.

He let Gengar start choosing alone while he pushed the cart full of food and other supplies to the checkout and asked the staff to watch it. Then he returned with a fresh cart, just in time to see Gengar hesitating over a bag of chips. After sneaking a look at the price, Gengar put the chips back and turned to search for other snacks.

Chen Yan could not help letting out a soft chuckle.

This little rascal was so considerate it hurt.

Pretending he had not seen what had just happened, Chen Yan pushed the cart over to Gengar and asked, "How's it going? Found any snacks you like?"

Hearing Chen Yan, Gengar turned around with that signature grin, then put a few snack sausages into the cart, along with several snacks in large packages.

Chen Yan glanced at those large packages. They were the sort of snacks that hardly anyone ever bought at the supermarket, because they really did not taste very good.

But they all shared one advantage: they were cheap, plentiful, and filling.

Chen Yan could not help shaking his head gently.

Considerate and greedy for treats. Yep, our mighty Lord Gengar was just a kid.

While Gengar was still choosing other snacks, Chen Yan wandered around too. Passing the spot where Gengar had lingered for so long, he glanced at the price and frowned again. His brow soon relaxed, however, and he picked up the bag of chips Gengar had held earlier and asked:

"Gengy, do you want these?"

Gengar turned around and saw Chen Yan holding the chips that had taken so much effort to put down. Floating back to Chen Yan, Gengar took the chips from his hand, returned them to the shelf, and looked at him.

"Geng!"

These don't taste good!

Watching Gengar pretend to be an expert, Chen Yan finally burst out laughing.

Under Gengar's puzzled gaze, he wiped away his tears of laughter, leaned close to Gengar's ear, and whispered, "Gengy, I've got something to tell you. Don't let anyone else hear."

Gengar nodded furtively and brought an ear closer to Chen Yan, eyes darting around to survey their surroundings.

"I checked just now. The payment for my videos came through."

"Geng!"

Hooray!

"You might not know how much money that is," Chen Yan continued.

"But all you need to know is that it's enough for you to buy any snacks you want. You don't have to deliberately choose snacks you don't like."

Gengar looked at Chen Yan in surprise, seemingly wondering how he had known.

Facing Gengar, Chen Yan smiled and said, "I said I'd bring you here to buy snacks you like. That was a promise, and I'll keep it. You don't have to save money for me. Go on, get what you like."

Gengar grinned at his words, then caught Chen Yan off guard by sticking out a tongue and licking slobber all over his face before racing through the snack section with the little cart.

Every unwanted snack went back onto the shelves, and every favorite went into the cart.

Wiping the slobber off his face as he watched Gengar practically fly with joy, Chen Yan laughingly scolded, "You little rascal! That's how you repay my kindness?"

As he watched Gengar dart back and forth, the smile never left Chen Yan's face.

Gengar, please keep being this happy and carefree from now on, too.

Then Chen Yan looked at the price tag on the snacks before him and sank into deep confusion.

Twelve yuan for a bag of chips...

Whether it was the snacks in front of him or the ingredients, seasonings, tableware, and other things he had bought earlier, Chen Yan found that all their prices fell within the range he understood.

Then why had Grandmother said traveling cost so much?

Just before entering, he had seen a notification from PokéVideo.

It was about the payment for his videos: a little over eleven thousand.

At the time, he had thought it was too little and had even cursed PokéVideo for being stingy.

Yet the prices he had seen upon entering left him completely baffled.

Was food not the main expense when traveling? Could it be lodging?

That wasn't right either. The room he had booked was only eight hundred a night...

Could Grandmother be messing with his head? Just like he often did to Gengar...

Only then did Chen Yan catch on.

I knew it! Grandmother hadn't brought up marriage once in the past few months. Why had she suddenly started talking about it on today's call?

What a diversion! Attack somewhere else to draw the enemy away!

Experience really did count for something!

"Geng-"

Chen Yan, do you want anything to eat?

"Just buy what you want. I'll share yours."

"Geng-"

Oh.

"Geng."

Chen Yan, can I buy this?

"Sure."

"Geng-"

Chen Yan...

"Buy it."

"Geng-"

"Take it."

Today's spending: 3,798 yuan.

The cashier's hands moved so quickly while bagging everything that they almost left afterimages.

"Ding!"

Receipt acquired.