Ye Chuan chose to buy the training vest.
"That will be 5999 in total. This is your receipt, please keep it safe. With this receipt, you have a one-year free warranty," the shop assistant said after ringing up Ye Chuan's purchase, then continued, "Would you like the training vest to be packaged, or worn by the Pokémon?"
"No need, just give me the packaging bag and the instructions."
"Alright."
Ye Chuan returned Charmander to its Poké Ball and then put the shrunken Poké Ball in his pocket.
Poké Balls have the ability to shrink both themselves and Pokémon for easy carrying by trainers. This device, made from Apricorns, has evolved over the years, and now there are more than ten different types of Poké Balls to choose from, making it one of the most important items for trainers.
"Are you planning to have Charmander wear it during training?" An Shiyu asked, looking at the bag in Ye Chuan's hand.
"I'll let it get used to it first," Ye Chuan didn't deny it.
After browsing for a while longer, the two felt they didn't need to buy anything else and went straight home.
After dinner, Ye Chuan studied Pokémon knowledge in the study for a while and then went to bed promptly at twelve o'clock.
The night passed without incident, and Ye Chuan even slept soundly without any dreams.
After washing up and going downstairs, he found that An Shiyu had already arrived and was busy in the kitchen wearing an apron.
"Morning, Ah Ye." Seeing Ye Chuan come downstairs, An Shiyu was tasting the soup with a ladle. "Actually, you could have slept a bit longer, it's not time yet."
"I've had enough sleep," Ye Chuan said, suddenly noticing the apron An Shiyu was wearing, and he took another look.
Seeming to notice Ye Chuan's gaze, An Shiyu tugged at the sides of her apron and asked with a smile, "I bought this yesterday. Isn't the Alcremie pattern on it cute?"
Alcremie is a cute Pokémon that looks like whipped cream and evolves from Milcery. Because of its varied evolution methods, the evolved Alcremie are all different. There are currently nine known flavors of Alcremie, and its super cute appearance makes it very popular among male trainers.
As for why male trainers liked it more...
Because it suited the tastes of tough guys.
Seeing An Shiyu ask if her apron was cute, Ye Chuan stroked his chin:
"Wearing only the apron would be even cuter."
"Wearing only the apron?" An Shiyu was stunned for a moment. She thought about it briefly and then subconsciously covered her backside, her face as red as an apple. "Pervert Ye!"
"I'm giving a very serious suggestion."
"It's precisely your serious look that makes me angry!"
After completing his daily task of teasing An Shiyu, Ye Chuan took out Charmander's Poké Ball and summoned it. After a night of getting used to it, Charmander's movements were no longer as difficult as they were at the beginning, but running and jumping still required some time.
"Do you need to take it off for a while to rest?" Ye Chuan asked Charmander.
Charmander shook its head, seemingly not wanting to take off the training vest for the time being.
Seeing Charmander's intention, Ye Chuan had no choice but to nod. "Alright."
"Ah Ye, breakfast is ready!"
"Okay."
While eating breakfast, Ye Chuan heard a cooing sound coming from the window not far away. He turned his head and saw a Pidgey outside the window, flapping its wings.
"Is it delivering mail?" This Pidgey clearly wasn't wild, An Shiyu asked.
"Probably," Ye Chuan got up and went to the window, taking an envelope from the Pidgey's mailbox.
"Coo." The Pidgey looked expectant, its beak holding a piece of paper with a QR code on it.
Seeing the QR code, Ye Chuan was clearly stunned for a moment, then took out his phone and scanned it—
He found that it was actually an electronic evaluation form.
"Do good reviews require scanning a QR code now?" Ye Chuan glanced at it and lightly tapped a few times with his finger: "Pidgey number 8, right? Good review given."
"Coo!" The Pidgey politely lowered its body and flew away flapping its wings.
Ye Chuan returned to the dining table. An Shiyu looked at the envelope in his hand. "I've noticed that Pidgey often come to deliver mail to Ah Ye's house. Are they sent by your aunt and uncle?"
"Not all of them." Ye Chuan opened the envelope and found a bank card, a postcard, and a piece of paper inside, which read—
[(.ω) Training Pokémon must cost a lot, right? Remember to tell Mom if you don't have enough!] "Wouldn't it be easier to just transfer money online?" Ye Chuan sighed.
As for the postcard, it was a landscape from an unknown country, with a blue sea and sky, quite beautiful.
"Maybe it's inconvenient for your aunt and uncle to transfer money online since they're abroad?" An Shiyu asked curiously, "Actually, if you don't have enough, I have some here."
As she spoke, she took out her card, which was a limited edition Eevee commemorative card issued by the Pokémon Bank, with only a hundred in existence worldwide.
"I still have some on hand, so it's not a problem, and my mom just sent the card over," Ye Chuan shook his head.
After breakfast, Ye Chuan went to the sports center to start training.
The originally planned jogging was changed to slow walking because Charmander was wearing the training vest. However, even so, the physical exertion for Charmander was much greater than direct jogging.
After walking for only an hour, Charmander was exhausted and sat down on the ground.
Ye Chuan and it sat by the track to rest. Not only that, but he also fed Charmander Pokéblocks to replenish its stamina. Ye Chuan originally thought that a box of Pokéblocks like this would last a long time, but he found that at this rate of consumption, it would only last about a week.
But when the time came, he could buy some Berries and ask Shiyu to help make them into Pokéblocks.
After resting for less than ten minutes, Charmander stood up again and continued walking on the track. Its strong will was evident at this moment. Ye Chuan smiled slightly and also got up to accompany it in training.
After two hours of stumbling training, Ye Chuan and Charmander went to the training room for combat practice. The pulling force from the training vest was significant. Using skills to attack the wooden stakes under this pressure was clearly several levels more difficult than the training on the track just now.
Even for Charmander, it took a full minute of effort to release Metal Claw, and its power was still very low.
However, the exhaustion brought about by this pressure allowed Charmander's impulsive desire to be vented. It could be seen that Charmander's eyes were full of excitement as it released Metal Claw again and again.
"Should... it be okay?" Seeing Charmander's fierce appearance, Ye Chuan scratched his cheek with his finger.
Ten minutes later, Charmander finally shattered a wooden stake. It panted and called out happily, "Ga!"
Seeing Charmander's happy appearance at this moment, Ye Chuan couldn't help but feel it resembled that meme of a grinning husky online.