Indeedee had just scampered to the entrance of the dilapidated cabin when she saw a small head poking out from a window.
This mouse looked somewhat similar to a Rattata, but with round ears.
"You, buy hat?" The hat mouse squinted at Indeedee and asked.
"Indeedee!"
So the hat mouse swiftly spread out a menu page. It then recognized the Rattata following behind Indeedee.
"You, also come, buy hat? Bring, gold coin?" it called out in its awkward accent.
"Rattata!" The Rattata held out the 1000g received from Ron and immediately handed it to the hat mouse's paw.
Unlike Indeedee, who still needed to browse for a while, it had long since set its eyes on a particular bow tie and already knew the price. So the hat mouse rummaged through a chest nearby, retrieved a bow tie, and handed it to the Rattata.
Almost no one in town came to patronize the hat mouse's business.
To open up sales, it had specifically sent a letter to everyone in town, exhausting its lifelong learning to write an emotionally charged, concise and clear promotional flyer.
"Hi.
Me sell hats. Okay, poke?
Come to old old old haus, poke. Bring coines.
-hat mouse"
What a warm greeting! Unfortunately, most people merely glanced at it and tossed aside the carefully crafted letter.
Indeedee was still flipping through styles she liked. Hearing the hat mouse's thoughts, Indeedee suddenly raised her head sharply.
"Indeedee?"
"Don't understand, poke." The hat mouse stared down at Indeedee and shook its head.
Hearing this, Indeedee gave up on being a middleman. However, judging from previous circumstances, perhaps the townspeople of Pelican Town weren't too fond of these new things either.
Like the felt hats sold at the fair that day—besides the farm folks, only Pierre bought one for Caroline afterward. Nothing else.
Thinking this, Indeedee selected a small hat.
The hat mouse generously took it out and let Indeedee try it on. Indeedee wore the hat to the water's edge, looked carefully at her reflection, and immediately paid for it.
If she had to say, she still preferred that fashionable felt hat.
Unfortunately, this item had already become ubiquitous at the farm, completely sweeping away the joy of having obtained that hat through the lottery with great difficulty.
Later, if Sandy or Emily were willing, she wanted to ask them to help modify her hat.
Thinking this, Indeedee wore her hat, humming a tune, and returned to the farm with the equally cheerful Rattata.
Meanwhile, at the farm.
Ron confirmed at the cabin that most Rattatas, compared to allowance, preferred receiving some tasty food as a reward for a day's hard work.
Upon hearing this, he thought for a moment: "Then you can save up money to spend at the Saloon yourselves."
Hearing this, the Rattatas looked at Ron with sudden realization. The next second, they excitedly began dashing around the room.
Previously, going to the saloon for meals had always been led by Ron. No one had thought they could go consume by themselves. Now, imagining being able to eat whatever they wanted at the saloon, the whole room of Rattatas immediately became energized.
It looked just like children receiving pocket money they could spend for the first time. Leah smiled at the sight, her gaze falling on Ron's face as he communicated with the Rattatas.
After a while, she lowered her head and took another sip of milk tea.
Robin watched Leah thoughtfully from the side. After a moment, she stood up, patted Leah's back, and walked straight over to continue working on the cabin.
Today would end, and then it would be time to build the new house for Penny's family.
Although she had constructed so many buildings already, being able to help Penny and her mother build their ideal cottage in town still exhilarated Robin.
It felt just like over twenty years ago when she built the carpenter's shop in the remote mountains—full of accomplishment.
On the other side, Penny and her mother felt the same way.
Today was Tuesday. Penny was still at the Library teaching the children. After finishing today's lesson, she watched the children burying their heads in the new textbooks, and after a while, a smile appeared on her face.
The new textbooks were indeed more reasonable and easier to understand than the knowledge Penny had compiled herself before.
The children's interest in learning has also been much higher these days. Penny wasn't sure if this had anything to do with no longer needing to copy knowledge bit by bit into notebooks—a tedious task that had dampened the children's enthusiasm.
In any case, she was endlessly grateful for everything.
Whether it was the house or the education fund.
However, because Pam had deliberately hidden the fact that this money was funded by the farm, she only thought that Pelican Town was getting better and better, to the point where the town's finances had become more abundant—enough to provide a loan for her family and also supplement the children's education fund.
"Ms. Penny." Jas looked up at Penny. Because they were in the library, she deliberately lowered her voice: "Are you thinking about the house?"
"Mm." Penny smiled, then said: "Half and half."
If it were before, she probably wouldn't have had the courage to tell others about her longing for a new house.
Her inferiority complex made her ashamed to speak about financial matters, and she didn't dare to envision the nearly impossible.
"What's the other half?"
"It's your books, dear." Penny rubbed Jas's head: "Pelican Town is getting better and better, and the education fund has come through as well."
"Pelican Town is getting better?" Jas looked at Penny confused.
"Mm, so there's surplus funding to provide loans for our family on one hand, and on the other——"
"But Aunt Marnie said—" Jas blurted out, then in the next instant, swallowed her words back down.
She seemed to remember that Marnie had mentioned this matter hadn't been explicitly told to Penny.
"What did Marnie say?" Penny asked upon hearing this.
Jas shook her head: "Aunt Marnie also said that getting new textbooks is truly a wonderful thing!"
"Yes." Penny smiled.
Probably because joy occupied her entire mind, she didn't notice at all that what Jas originally intended to say wasn't this.
She just rested her chin on her hand, thinking about when she woke up from the trailer today.
"Today is really cold," she murmured.
Fortunately, such days would soon be over. She could light the fireplace in her house and wake up in a warm room.
No longer trembling in fear through every night of howling wind.
And finally, she could sleep together with Clefairy.
Clefable, sitting nearby flipping through a book, seemed to sense Penny's thoughts. She turned her head to look at Penny.
Then, she called out to Penny.
"Clef!"
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