Picking on the Nice Guy

Having Gen join them (under duress) had not really helped much, had it?

"Li Xiang, that hurts my feelings!!!" Gen raised a hand indignantly.

"Hehe, sorry, sorry. I'll be more careful next time." Li Xiang struck the Fujiya mascot's signature pose.

"What do you mean, next time? Why is there even going to be a next time?"

Ignoring Gen's complaints, Li Xiang went back to working on the fabric in her hands.

Over the past few days, Li Xiang and little Watermelon had explored practically every inch of Back Mountain.

To make new clothes that would dazzle every girl in the village, the two entered the mountains at daybreak and only returned at sunset, putting in several full days of solid work.

Simply by feeling the texture of the fibers with his fingertips, little Watermelon could pick out the wild vines with the greatest suppleness, the ones best suited to weaving.

Li Xiang handled the subsequent extraction, drying, kneading, and combing of the fibers.

One identified the materials; the other processed them.

As the days passed, a large pile of soft, snowy-white fabric with a fine texture accumulated in a corner of the camp.

It was a hundred times more comfortable than the village's rough, heavy animal hides and coarse hemp clothing.

With the fabric ready, the next step was dyeing it.

The woods offered countless natural dyes. The two collected safflower, lithospermum, maple leaves, berry juice, and all kinds of other natural coloring materials.

They soaked... boiled... set the colors... and dried the fabric, over and over.

The pure white cloth took on gentle shades of pale pink, elegant muted purple, and fresh lime green. The colors were clear and natural, without the garish intensity of industrial dyes.

With piles of fabric and a full range of colors, everything was ready except the final step.

Cutting, sewing, and designing the styles.

Looking at the colorful fabric before her, Li Xiang found herself stumped for once. She stood staring at it, utterly at a loss.

She rubbed between her brows and could not help sighing softly. "If only Yuzuriha were here."

Yuzuriha excelled at sewing, design, and delicate handiwork. She could definitely turn this fabric into beautiful, well-fitting new clothes.

Unfortunately, they were short-handed, and their dependable craftswoman was not around. Li Xiang could only grit her teeth and do it herself.

She clenched her jaw, stopped agonizing over it, and got down to work.

Practice made perfect. No one was born knowing how to make clothes.

Relying on her modern aesthetic sense and practical skills, she worked from the simplest basic clothing patterns in her memory, threading her needle and sewing at speed.

Her fingertips flew as the needle and thread darted through the fabric, stitching it together. Each movement grew more practiced.

In no time at all, the loose pieces of fabric were neatly joined and shaped.

A finished garment appeared before her, its cut clean, simple, tasteful, loose, and comfortable.

The understated style was easy on the eyes, and the soft fabric felt pleasant against the skin. It left the village's coarse, primitive hemp clothes in the dust.

With the first garment successfully completed, Li Xiang was just about to breathe a sigh of relief. She considered designing a few different styles next, refining the cuts and adding decorative patterns.

Just as she frowned in thought, puzzling over possible designs, a breezy voice drifted over from beside her.

"Thinking about new clothes, little Li Xiang?"

Gen Asagiri sauntered over, looking lazy and amused as he leaned in to inspect the fabric scattered across the ground and the finished garment.

He had been watching from a distance as Li Xiang stared at the cloth and agonized over it.

Li Xiang set down her needle, thread, and fabric, then spread her hands helplessly. "Just as I thought, design really isn't my strong suit. It takes too much brainpower."

She could make basic clothes, but she could not come up with varied designs.

Even with decorative details, they looked nice but were too plain, lacking a standout feature that would truly impress.

Gen Asagiri shrugged knowingly, wearing an irritating little grin.

"Well, fashion design takes an eye for beauty and a delicate touch. It was never really your specialty, little Li Xiang."

You can save people, devise strategies, and slyly trick others. That's ridiculous enough already. You can't be good at absolutely everything.

At his words, Li Xiang's eyes shifted slightly, and a brilliant idea flashed through her mind.

Right!

Just because I'm not good at it doesn't mean no one is.

Gen Asagiri might seem lazy, playful, glib, devious, and crafty...

Gen: "Hey, hey, hey?"

She immediately turned to him with a beaming smile. "In that case... Gen, you must be pretty good at aesthetics and design, right?"

Gen's heart lurched.

Alarm bells instantly blared!

Whenever she spoke in that gentle, sweet tone, nothing good ever followed. She was absolutely about to squeeze some free labor out of him!

Without a second thought, he shook his head frantically and refused at lightning speed.

"No, no, no! I can't! I'm terrible at it! I don't know how to do anything!"

Was she kidding? Senku already dragged me into work every single day. If I take on fashion design too, I'll end up chained to a pile of fabric forever!

Absolutely not! I'm not falling into that trap!

But he was still a step too slow.

Li Xiang gave him no chance to escape. She grabbed his collar and effortlessly hauled him over to the pile of fabric, smiling gently.

"Don't be so modest. You're the one."

"Come on, help me design some styles. Just make up a few pretty patterns. Thanks for all your hard work, little Gen!"

Gen Asagiri wanted to cry but had no tears. Forced into the job on the spot, he found himself the proud new owner of the position of dedicated fashion-design drudge.

While the new clothing venture forged ahead, Senku's grand ramen project also reached a successful conclusion.

After repeated adjustments to the heat and ingredient ratios, along with plenty of dough kneading, the first bowl of all-natural ramen in Dr. STONE was officially ready.

The steaming noodles sat in a pottery bowl, the broth bubbling and its aroma wafting outward. It looked quite convincing.

Kohaku, Chrome, and little Watermelon had been drooling over it for ages. They eagerly picked up their bowls and chopsticks and dug in.

The moment the noodles entered their mouths, their eyes lit up.

"It's so good!!"

"The texture is amazing! This tastes ten thousand times better than the village's coarse-grain porridge!"

They wolfed it down, their mouths filled with savory flavor and their faces blissful, utterly won over by the texture of modern ramen.

Only Senku, who had made the noodles himself, hesitated with his chopsticks in hand. He stared expressionlessly at the ramen in his bowl, looking thoroughly disgusted.

After all, this was a low-budget version made with primitive ingredients and crude tools. Without refined seasoning or a good soup base, it was barely edible. By Senku's high standards, it was an outright failure.

Li Xiang, on the other hand, ate with relish, thoroughly enjoying every mouthful.

Watching her calmly tuck into her meal, Gen Asagiri could not help asking in bewilderment, "Little Li Xiang, how can you actually stomach noodles this awful?"

To him, the flavor truly defied description. There was no way he could call it good.

Li Xiang swallowed her noodles and looked up calmly, completely unbothered. "They taste fine."

She gave her honest assessment. "Seriously, this isn't even as bad as the food at my old school cafeteria."

"Huh? Did your school feed you pig slop?"

"Ouch, buddy. That hurt..."

Compared with all the horrifying cafeteria concoctions she had eaten in the past, this bowl of handmade, all-natural ramen was already a gourmet treat.

With that, she turned toward the disgusted Gen and began lecturing him in all seriousness.

"Besides, Grandpa Yuan taught us to treasure food. We shouldn't waste it."

"Haven't you heard the old verse? 'Who knows that every grain upon the plate is earned through bitter toil?'"

Every grain of food was the product of hard work. Whether it tasted good or bad, it should never be wasted carelessly.

Gen Asagiri was instantly left speechless, his expression conceding defeat.

When it came to making a case, he could never outtalk Li Xiang.

Watching Li Xiang calmly eat and somehow turn his disastrous ramen into something defensible, Senku could not help chuckling.

As long as people could accept the taste, that was enough.

He immediately made the call and assigned their tasks. "We're ready."

"Watermelon, Kohaku, go spread the word in the village. Tell everyone there's a new dish they can try for free at the village entrance. Invite them all over to join the fun."

Little Watermelon and Kohaku promptly accepted their orders and raced excitedly toward the village.

After the two made their rounds, the news spread throughout the Thousand-Year-Old Village in an instant.

Life in the primitive village was dull and monotonous, and its residents had never seen much in the way of novelty or excitement. The moment they heard there was something new to eat at the entrance and a lively gathering to join, the entire village erupted.

Young and old, men and women alike set down their work and flocked curiously toward the open space at the village entrance.

Everyone wanted to see what new tricks these young outsiders had come up with.

What greeted them was ramen capable of winning over every palate in the village on one side, and beautiful new-style cloth garments unlike anything they had ever seen.