Chapter 38 – Shaping

The kitchen doorknob turned, and the door was pushed open without a sound. Yu Sheng walked out carrying several large bags, greeting the dumbstruck Eileen nearby: “I’m back.”

Eileen’s eyes went wide, clearly unable to process what had just happened: “Didn’t you go outside to buy things? Then why are you coming from…”

She suddenly stopped, as if the realization had just hit her.

“No way! You went to the mall and came back using ‘Door Opening’!?”

“I thought about it — since this door doesn’t just lead to the Otherworld but can also reach some ‘distant place’ in reality, there’s no reason it couldn’t go somewhere closer,” Yu Sheng said to Eileen with a smug look. “I also tested whether objects and living things could pass through the door while carrying them. It seems as long as the door remains stable, everything can pass through just fine…”

Eileen was left in a daze. When she heard the words “living things,” she got a little curious: “Living things?! Where did you get a living thing? Where is it?”

Yu Sheng held out his hand: “I caught a mosquito before coming back…”

Eileen: “…?”

The Puppet Miss gained an entirely new appreciation for Yu Sheng’s creativity, and then her attention naturally fell on the several large shopping bags he had brought back.

At first glance, she spotted a case of eight-treasure porridge among them.

Yu Sheng began pulling things out of the shopping bags. He first set aside the case of eight-treasure porridge, then showed Eileen the rest: “I bought lightweight clay. Since I bought such a large quantity, the shopkeeper threw in some tools for free. But these tools probably won’t be of any use — they’re all for making small puppets. To make a body for you, I’d need this instead — I bought a rolling pin…”

“Over here are hair and pigments. I bought quality ones. They might not be the most expensive, but they’re close enough.”

“Oh right, I couldn’t find any suitable clothes for you. Would you like to…”

“No need,” Eileen waved her hand dismissively. She watched Yu Sheng pull things out, her face now full of anticipation and excitement. “I can ‘shape’ clothes myself. I said before, this body is mainly just a medium and a temporary vessel… Wow, there’s really a lot of stuff. Yu Sheng, you really put your heart into this, didn’t you?”

“Of course. If we’re doing it once, we either don’t do it at all or we do it right,” Yu Sheng said, though he then frowned and shook his head. “But honestly, I think there’s still stuff missing. I heard there are clay drying ovens, various fillers, softening oils, primers, makeup tools, and such, but when I looked into it, they were either only suited for small puppets or something I couldn’t learn to use in a short time. And I have another concern — clay needs time to dry. Without a drying oven, large-scale pieces won’t dry and harden in half a day…”

“It doesn’t matter, none of that is important. As long as we can build the framework, it’s fine,” Eileen said, clearly in high spirits, her tone toward Yu Sheng noticeably gentler than usual. “The important part is the ritual portion — yes, the ritual portion. Otherwise, I’d have just had you buy a ready-made puppet and saved all this trouble.”

“That works then,” Yu Sheng exhaled and began sorting through the large pile of items. “Let’s go up to the attic. There’s more space up there and a big table.”

Eileen nodded enthusiastically. But suddenly, she noticed another bag nearby — one that looked oddly familiar.

“…What is that whole bag of lotus root for?” The Puppet Miss asked with a face full of bewilderment.

Yu Sheng’s hands paused. He looked up at Eileen, then looked back down at the bag of lotus root. Two seconds later, he let out an awkward chuckle: “Well, that’s a backup plan in case my craftsmanship turns out to be too rough. That’s how I see it…”

Eileen tilted her head and thought about it for a long time before finally catching up with Yu Sheng’s train of thought. She immediately leaped up from her red velvet Chair: “Absolutely not!”

“Is that so?” Yu Sheng looked a little disappointed. “I even spent a long time picking the perfect one — the shape is practically ideal.”

“Of course not!” Eileen’s Eyes were practically popping out of her head. “Let me tell you — pre-made meals are already bad enough. If you use pre-made parts on me too, I’m going to have serious objections…”

“Alright, alright,” Yu Sheng sighed, carrying the bag of lotus root to the kitchen. “I’ll use it to make deep-fried lotus root patties later then.”

Eileen suddenly had a bad feeling. She sensed that her escape from this predicament today might not go as smoothly as she had imagined…

But Yu Sheng, at this moment, was brimming with confidence. He sorted through the tools and materials needed to shape the puppet’s body, picked them up with one hand, tucked Eileen’s picture frame under his Arm, and reached out to grip the kitchen doorknob.

This time, Eileen reacted quickly: “…You’re going to use the ‘Door’ just to get to the attic!?”

Yu Sheng thought about it, decided that was perhaps a bit too lazy, and gave an embarrassed smile. He picked up the materials and Eileen and turned toward the Stairs leading to the upper floor.

This house had a large attic just above the Second Floor. Calling it an attic was a bit of a stretch — it was more like an extra floor that had been partitioned off because the ceiling height had been left too generous during construction. Its area was about half the size of the Second Floor, and it had two windows facing the Street and one Skylight — which was why, when viewed from outside, the house appeared to have three stories.

Except when cleaning, Yu Sheng rarely visited the attic.

Because there was almost nothing up there. Apart from a large table that seemed to have been placed there simply because there was nowhere else for it, there were only two creaky old chairs. At night or on overcast days when the light was poor, the overly empty attic always felt eerie and a little unsettling.

But right now, it was perfectly suited to serve as a “workshop” for shaping Eileen’s body.

Yu Sheng made two trips, also fetching some tools that might come in handy from the storage room on the Second Floor, along with an old desk lamp and various strange odds and ends that Eileen had requested for the “ritual.” He piled everything onto the large table in the attic. Eileen’s picture frame was placed in one Corner of the table, leaning against a stack of Old Books temporarily serving as a stand. She quietly watched Yu Sheng bustle back and forth, calmer than she had ever been before, as if lost in thought.

Yu Sheng sat down in front of the large table. The old chair let out a creak. He clumsily handled the clay and palette knife, beginning to familiarize himself with how they worked.

Eileen suddenly broke the silence: “Yu Sheng.”

“Mm?”

“I’m really going to come out of this painting.”

“Yes, if everything goes smoothly.”

“…I never thought there’d actually be a day like this,” Eileen murmured quietly. “I had actually given up on it many years ago…”

“Why are you suddenly getting sentimental about this now?” Yu Sheng looked up and glanced at the Puppet in the Painting, who seemed to have turned a little melancholic.

Eileen sat in her chair, hugging her Toy Bear and swaying gently: “It’s nothing. I just wanted to say thank you.”

“Save the thanks for after we succeed,” Yu Sheng let out a soft breath, as if easing a bit of inner tension. “Now tell me — what’s the first step?”

“Candles — place them at each of the four Corners of the table, then light one more and place it beside my picture frame. The basic torso must be completed before the candles burn out.”

Eileen’s expression turned serious as she began guiding Yu Sheng on how to use a collection of everyday materials to complete the crafting of a vessel for the “living puppet.”

This was the first time she had ever passed on knowledge belonging to Alice’s Cottage to a… “human.”

“Draw three concentric circles on the table — their area will be your workspace. Then extend a line from each of the four corner candles until they intersect at the center of the concentric circles… Try to make them round… Never mind, just don’t draw them as squares…”

“Write my name at the center — Ei-leen — in the old world’s common tongue… Ah, you don’t know it. Then find a piece of paper first, and I’ll tell you how to write it. Whatever you do, don’t spell it wrong.”

“You’ll also need a little of your blood — just a small amount — mixed into the clay, then blend in some pre-prepared tea powder and Rose oil. Don’t add too much of either; it will affect the molding. Once the clay is ready, place it in front of me. I’ll guide the first ‘spirit infusion.'”

Eileen gave instructions one by one, and Yu Sheng carried them out meticulously. A quiet and focused Atmosphere gradually settled over the attic. The usual bickering between them was gone, replaced by an increasingly seamless cooperation.

…Well, not exactly seamless — Eileen mostly relied on patience, and Yu Sheng mostly relied on confidence.

The Process was far more exhausting than Yu Sheng had initially imagined — not just physically, but mentally draining as well.

He could feel the “ritual” that Eileen had mentioned gradually taking effect. Those arrangements he couldn’t quite understand were beginning to operate according to some “law” and “force” beyond his comprehension. As someone performing this kind of “ritual” for the first time, an ordinary person (approximately), even though most of the spirit infusion was handled by Eileen, Yu Sheng could still feel a kind of mental “draining of power.”

But Eileen had warned him about all of this before the ritual began, so Yu Sheng didn’t panic. Instead, he did his best to maintain his composure and complete each step Eileen required as precisely as he could.

The body of a puppet gradually took shape in his hands.

Rough, crude, lopsided — even the two legs were different lengths. One Arm had even snapped apart in the middle, and had been reconnected using wire and water.

Yu Sheng felt he might not have any Talent in this area whatsoever.

But regardless, everything was finally approaching its conclusion.

“You can extinguish the last candle now,” the Eileen inside the picture frame said calmly, her gaze fixed on the body on the table with an expression more grave and solemn than ever before. “Then place me directly in front of the body, at the position of the Head.”

“Alright,” Yu Sheng said, getting up to carry out the steps, casually asking, “Then what?”

“Then I need a minute to comfort myself and steel my Belief…”

Yu Sheng: “…Why?”

Eileen looked like she was about to cry: “It’s too damn ugly… Even knowing I can reshape it later, just looking at it now — it’s way too damn ugly.”

(End of chapter)