Chapter Forty-Nine: There's No Time to Explain, Get in the Car!

Originally, Heath had wanted to hurry to the market and buy the ingredients he needed, but as lunchtime approached, he became increasingly busy and could only go after serving all his customers.

“Heath, give me three of those mushroom buns and a cup of soy milk, quickly,” a hoarse female voice called out. Heath instinctively replied, “Coming right up.”

He packed three buns and a cup of soy milk into a bag and handed them to the woman in front of him. She left the money and departed in haste, eating as she walked, as if she were racing against time. Watching her made Heath’s own stomach ache.

“Miss Fangyu is just the same as always,” Heath remarked, shaking his head as he watched her briskly enter the office building. Despite having been a regular customer for over a year, she was always in a rush whenever she came to him.

The other customers were used to this and continued to buy various foods from Heath. Occasionally, they chatted about other topics, and Heath overheard some interesting tidbits.

“Last time I took my little Pikachu for a beauty treatment at Fangyu’s Beauty Salon, it cost a fortune!” Two office ladies chatted as they waited for their egg fried rice, discussing this and that.

Heath wasn’t particularly interested in their conversation. Of course, the world of Pokémon also had beauty salons, and the glamorous, hoarse-voiced Miss Fangyu was the owner of the most famous one.

She was something of a legend. Every day, as Heath set up his stall, he’d see the towering building of Fangyu Beauty Salon diagonally across the street—a whole building dedicated to her business. She was wealthy, no doubt about it.

The salon’s prices were notoriously high. Even the simplest skincare treatment for a Pokémon cost over three thousand Alliance coins, easily half a month’s salary for an average office worker.

Yet, despite the expense, when anyone in Evergreen City thought of Pokémon beauty treatments, Fangyu’s Salon was the first to come to mind. It spoke volumes about her dominance in the field.

Heath had even seen trainers from Pallet Town and Pewter City travel here for a session, not to mention the wealthy wives from big cities like Saffron City. They all sang Miss Fangyu’s praises.

What Heath couldn’t quite understand was why Miss Fangyu, despite making so much money, lived so frugally. She hardly looked the part of a wealthy woman—if not for her expensive clothes, anyone might take her for an ordinary office worker.

Heath supposed everyone had their own quirks.

Once he’d served wave after wave of customers, the lunch rush finally ended, and with the afternoon lull, things quieted down.

“Let’s go, Farfetch’d—today we’ll get something different at the market.” Heath chuckled, ruffling Farfetch’d’s head. If not for seeing his Pokémon, Heath might have forgotten about that particular dish.

“Leek?” Farfetch’d hopped around Heath expectantly.

But looking at Zorua, who was lounging lazily after eating her fill, Heath could only sigh. That little one was living like a pig—eat, sleep, repeat. Heath suspected her weight would skyrocket if this kept up.

Earlier, when serving Mr. Yaning, Heath had pondered what savory dish he could make for him. Seeing Farfetch’d gave him the idea of a famous dish from his previous life—salted duck. But since he’d been cooking duck a lot lately, he was a bit tired of it and opted for something else.

Salt-baked chicken.

Salt-baked chicken was delicious, with a savory taste, and the tender, fragrant meat paired perfectly with a bowl of white rice—pure bliss.

Of course, Heath had heard some people liked to eat salt-baked chicken while drinking, but since he didn’t drink much himself, he wasn’t too familiar with that custom.

Just thinking about his upcoming driving lessons made Heath sigh with a sense of impending doom. He had a strong aversion to Officer Ling, the most experienced driving instructor, but unfortunately, she was also the best driver among the Officer Jennys.

She was also the head examiner for the driving test. No matter what, if you wanted to learn to drive, you couldn’t avoid this old rascal.

“I really just want to learn to drive properly...” Heath sighed deeply, then bought a freshly slaughtered rooster from the butcher and brought it back to his food truck.

“What’s this? Trainer, are you making something tasty again?” As soon as Heath got on board, Zorua revealed her true form and asked eagerly.

“This is chicken, but it’s not for spicy chicken,” Heath replied, taking out the salt. He had plenty, so it should be enough.

However, when he glanced at the label featuring a Primarina, his expression grew a bit odd.

“Should I say it’s truly the world of Pokémon?” Heath clicked his tongue. This was high-grade salt from Kanto, supposedly harvested after Primarina surfed and the salt was sun-dried, costing ten coins more than ordinary salt.

Naturally, Heath hadn’t bought such an extravagant bag of salt; it had come from Giovanni.

Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket, had a little hobby of cooking for himself, so his home was filled with all sorts of odd kitchen gadgets. This bag of salt was one of them.

“So, does that mean there could be Kyogre salt in the future? Groudon’s flying suit—no, Groudon fertilizer?” Heath joked as he sprinkled the salt.

No matter how strange the name, the quality was excellent—Heath could tell at a glance.

Once the chicken was marinated, Heath, looking rather glum, drove toward the driving school. It was about time for his lesson anyway.

The Evergreen City driving school was on the outskirts, practically in the countryside. It was Heath’s first time going there, but thankfully, his food truck had an autopilot feature—otherwise, he’d have had to push it all the way himself.

As the truck rolled along, the scenery gradually shifted from tall city buildings to lush trees and expansive meadows. Heath couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

“So clean and fresh...” he murmured in admiration.

“Watch out! The car ahead! Get out of the way!” Just as Heath was marveling at the scenery, a frantic shout rang out ahead.

Heath instinctively leaned forward—and saw a Blissey driving straight toward him.

What—?