Chapter 38 Shaping
The kitchen doorknob turned once, then quietly opened. Yu Sheng came out carrying several large bags, and said hello to Irene, who was standing not far away, stunned: "I'm back."
Irene's eyes widened, and she obviously didn't react immediately: "Didn't you go out to buy something? How come you came back from..."
She suddenly stopped, as if she had realized what was happening.
"No way! You have to 'open the door' when you go shopping at the mall and come home!?"
"I thought about it. Since this door not only leads to a foreign land, but also to a 'faraway' place in reality, it doesn't make sense that it can't go to a closer place," Yu Sheng said to Irene with a proud look on his face. "By the way, I also tested carrying objects and living things through this door. It seems that as long as the door is kept stable, they can pass through the door smoothly..."
Irene was stunned when she heard the word "living creature". She was a little curious: "Living creature? Where did you get the living creature? Where?"
Yu Sheng stretched out his hand: "I caught a mosquito before I came back..."
Irene: “……?”
Miss Doll gained a new understanding of the creativity of life, and her attention was then drawn to the several large shopping bags that the other party brought back.
The first thing she saw was a box of eight-treasure porridge.
Yu Sheng unloaded the things in the shopping bag, put away the box of eight-treasure porridge first, and then showed the rest to Irene: "I bought lightweight clay. Because I bought a large amount, the store also gave me some tools, but I don't think I'll use these tools. These are all for making small dolls. I'll need this to make your body - I bought a rolling pin...
"Here are the hair and paint, all good quality. Although not the most expensive, it's almost the same.
"By the way, I haven't found any suitable clothes for you. What do you think..."
"No need," Irene waved her hand. She watched Yu Sheng rummaging around, her face full of anticipation and excitement. "I can 'shape' the clothes myself. I told you, this body is mainly used as a medium and a temporary container... Wow, there are so many things. Yu Sheng, you really put in a lot of effort, didn't you?"
"Nonsense, at least do it once, either don't do it or try to do it as well as possible," Yu Sheng said, but then frowned and shook his head, "But to be honest, this thing should still be incomplete. I heard that there are also clay drying boxes and various putty, softening oil, primer, makeup tools and so on, but I took a look and found that either they can only be used for small dolls, or I can't learn them in a short time. And I have another problem, clay needs time to dry, without a drying box, large components will not be able to dry and harden in half a day..."
"It's okay. It doesn't matter as long as we can make the framework." Irene seemed to be in a very good mood. Even her tone was very gentle when she spoke to Yu Sheng. "The important part is the ritual part. Yes, the ritual part. Otherwise, I would just ask you to buy a ready-made doll. There's no need to go through so much trouble."
"That's fine," Yu Sheng exhaled, and began to sort the pile of things into different categories. "Then let's go to the attic. It's spacious and has a big table."
Irene nodded, but suddenly, she noticed a bag of something next to her that looked a little familiar.
"…What is this bag of lotus roots used for?" Miss Doll asked with a puzzled look on her face.
Yu Sheng paused, looked up at Irene, then looked down at the bag of lotus roots. Two seconds later he chuckled, "Well, this is a backup plan in case my cooking skills are too poor. That's how I understand it..."
Irene tilted her head and thought for a long time, and finally caught up with Yu Sheng's train of thought. She jumped up from her red velvet carpet chair on the spot: "No!"
"No?" Yu Sheng was a little disappointed. "I thought the lotus root was in perfect shape. I spent so much time choosing it."
"Of course not!" Irene's eyes almost popped out of her head. "I'm telling you, pre-prepared food is already too much. If you give me pre-prepared parts again, I will be very dissatisfied..."
"Okay, okay," Yu Sheng sighed and carried the bag of lotus roots to the kitchen, "Then bring it back to make fried lotus root boxes."
Irene suddenly had a bad feeling. She felt that her escape journey today might not go as smoothly as she imagined...
But Yu Sheng was full of confidence at this time. He sorted out the tools and materials needed to shape the doll's body, picked up the things with one hand, tucked Irene's picture frame under his arm, and reached out to hold the kitchen door handle.
Irene reacted quickly this time: "...Do you have to open the door even if you want to go to the attic!?"
Yu Sheng thought about it and felt that this was a bit too lazy, so he smiled awkwardly, took the materials and turned with Irene to walk towards the stairs leading upstairs.
This house has a large attic, which is just above the second floor. It is called an attic, but it is more like a separate floor that had to be separated out because the height of the floor was too high when the house was built. Its area is about half the size of the second floor, and it has two windows facing the street and a skylight - this is why, when viewed from the outside, you can see that the house has a total of three floors.
Except for cleaning, Yu Sheng rarely goes to the attic.
There was almost nothing there, except for a large table that seemed to have been put there because there was no other place for it, and two creaky old chairs. At night or on cloudy days when the light was poor, the overly empty attic always looked eerie and a little scary.
But now it is just right to serve as a "workshop" to shape Irene's body.
Yu Sheng made two trips and found some tools and an old desk lamp that might come in handy from the utility room on the second floor, as well as various strange things that Irene requested and needed for the "ritual", and moved them all to the large table in the attic.
Irene's picture frame was placed on a corner of the table, leaning against a pile of old books that served as a temporary stand. She quietly watched Yu Sheng running around busying himself, appearing quieter than ever before, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Yu Sheng sat down at the big table. The old chair made a creaking sound. He fiddled with the clay and spatula awkwardly, trying to familiarize himself with their "performance".
Irene suddenly broke the silence: "Yu Sheng."
"Um?"
“I’m really about to come out of this painting.”
"Yes, if everything goes well."
"...I never thought that this day would actually come," Irene muttered quietly, "In fact, I gave up hoping for it many years ago..."
"Now you suddenly think of this again?" Yu Sheng raised his head and glanced at the doll in the painting, who seemed to be suddenly sentimental.
Irene sat on the chair, hugging her teddy bear and rocking slowly: "Nothing, I just wanted to thank you."
"Then let's put off thanking until after we succeed," Yu Sheng exhaled softly, as if to ease the tension in his heart, "Now tell me, what is the first step?"
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"Put candles at the four corners of the table, light another and place it next to my frame - the basic trunk must be completed before the candles burn out."
Irene's expression became serious, and she began to instruct Yu Sheng on how to use a bunch of everyday materials to complete the shaping of the container for the "living doll".
This was the first time she passed on this knowledge belonging to "Alice's Cabin" to a... "human".
"Draw three concentric circles on the table. Their range is your operating space. Then extend a line from the candles at the four corners and intersect at the center of the concentric circles... Try to make them as round as possible... Forget it, just don't make them square...
"Write my name in the center of the circle, Ai-Lin, in the common language of the old world...ah, you don't know how to write it, then find a piece of paper first, and I'll tell you how to write it. Don't make any mistakes in spelling this.
"We also need your blood, just a little bit. Mix it into the clay, and then add the tea powder and rose oil that we prepared in advance. Don't put too much, or it will affect the formation. Put the prepared clay ball in front of me first, and I will guide the first 'infusion of spirit'."
Irene gave instructions one by one, and Yu Sheng carried them out meticulously. A quiet and focused atmosphere gradually lingered in the attic. The usual bickering between the two of them was no longer there, but only a gradually tacit cooperation.
...In fact, they don't have much tacit understanding. Irene relies mainly on her open-mindedness, while Yu Sheng relies mainly on his self-confidence.
This process was even more tiring than Yu Sheng had initially imagined. It was not only physically exhausting, but also mentally draining.
He could feel that the "ritual" mentioned by Irene was gradually taking effect. The arrangements that he could not understand were beginning to operate with some "laws" and "power" that he could not comprehend. As an ordinary person who was performing this "ritual" for the first time (), even though most of the infusion process of the ritual was completed by Irene, Yu Sheng also felt a "power loss" on the spiritual level.
But Irene had reminded him of these situations before the ceremony began, so Yu Sheng did not panic. Instead, he tried his best to maintain his condition and complete every step required by Irene as accurately as possible.
The body of a puppet gradually took shape in his hands.
It was rough, simple, and crooked, and even its two legs were not the same length - its arm was broken in the middle and then reconnected with wire and water.
Yu Sheng felt that he might not have the talent in this area.
But no matter what, everything is finally coming to an end.
"Now you can put out the last candle," Irene in the frame calmly stared at the body on the table, her expression more solemn and serious than ever before, "and then put me right in front of the body, where the head would be."
"Okay," Yu Sheng asked casually as he stood up and completed the process, "and then what?"
"Then I need a minute to comfort myself and strengthen my faith..."
Yu Sheng: “…Why?”
Irene almost cried when she saw it: "It's too ugly... Even if it can be reshaped, it's still too ugly now."
(End of this chapter)
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