Most people forgot their mothers once they had a wife, but Grandma Chen forgot her grandson once she had a granddaughter-in-law.
Chen Shi understood that he had fallen out of favor in this family.
Once upon a time, he had been Grandma Chen's precious darling, too.
Now... better not to dwell on it!
"Sigh..."
Chen Shi shook his head, pretending to be heartbroken.
Grandpa Chen said irritably, "Stop putting on an act, brat."
"What, you want to compete with Pheobe and Cynthia for attention?"
That single remark left Chen Shi speechless, with no way to argue back.
Who was Pheobe? The granddaughter of his grandparents' longtime friends. He had long since come to think of her as a little sister himself.
Then there was Cynthia. That one needed no explanation.
Barring any surprises, she would become part of the Chen family as his wife.
There was no way Chen Shi could compete with them, all right?
"Fine, fine. You all call the shots in this family. I'll keep my mouth shut." Chen Shi simply gave up.
Cynthia and Pheobe exchanged a glance and laughed.
Grandpa Chen suddenly remembered something and said, "Right, the Berries at home are ready to pick today. Haven't you been saying you wanted some work to do?"
"Then go pick the Berries today."
Chen Shi paused at that, then agreed. "No problem. Leave it to me."
It was already November, and it was time to harvest the family's Berries.
He had helped his grandparents with this plenty of times before, so he knew the routine well.
With a Psychic-type Pokémon like Gardevoir helping, picking Berries was easy. They just had to take care with storage and sorting.
"Do you need my help?" Cynthia asked gently.
"Me too!" Pheobe eagerly raised her hand.
Picking Berries sounded like