Chapter 38: Shaping

The kitchen door handle turned, then the door pushed open silently. Yu Sheng walked out from behind it carrying several large bags and greeted the stunned Eileen: "I'm back."

Eileen’s eyes went wide. She clearly didn’t process it at first: "Weren’t you going out to buy stuff? How did you come from—"

She stopped abruptly, as if it had finally clicked.

"No way! You went shopping at the mall and still used the 'door' to come home!?"

"I thought about it. Since this door doesn’t just lead to other realms but can also connect to some 'far away' place in reality, there’s no reason it can’t go somewhere closer," Yu Sheng said smugly to Eileen. "By the way, I also tested carrying things and living creatures through the door. As long as the door stays stable, everything passes through fine..."

Eileen was dumbfounded. When she heard "living creatures," she got curious: "Living creatures?! Where did you get one? Where is it?"

Yu Sheng held out his hand: "I caught a mosquito before coming back..."

Eileen: "...?"

The doll girl had a whole new appreciation for Yu Sheng’s creativity. Then her attention naturally fell on the large shopping bags he’d brought back.

The first thing she spotted was a box of eight-treasure congee.

Yu Sheng started pulling things out of the bags. He first set down the box of congee, then showed Eileen the rest: "I got lightweight clay. Since I bought a huge amount, the shop threw in some tools, but those probably won’t be useful—they’re for making small dolls. For your body, I need this—I bought a rolling pin...

"Over here are the hair and paint. I got the good stuff. Not the most expensive, but close.

"Oh, and I couldn’t find suitable clothes for you. Do you want to..."

"No need," Eileen waved her hand. She was watching him unpack, her face already full of anticipation and excitement. "I can 'shape' my own clothes. I told you, this body is mainly a medium and temporary container... Wow, you really got a lot of stuff, Yu Sheng. You put some thought into this, huh?"

"Of course. If I’m going to do it, either I don’t do it at all or I do my best," Yu Sheng said, but then frowned and shook his head. "To be honest, it’s still incomplete. I heard there are clay drying ovens, various fillers, softening oil, primer, makeup tools, and such, but either they’re only for small dolls or I wouldn’t learn them quickly. And there’s another problem: clay needs time to dry. Without a drying oven, large pieces won’t harden in half a day..."

"Doesn’t matter. None of that is important. As long as you can make the framework," Eileen said, in an exceptionally good mood. Even her tone when talking to him was unusually gentle. "The important part is the ritual. Yes, the ritual—otherwise I’d just have you buy a ready-made doll and be done with it. Why go through all this trouble?"

"All right then," Yu Sheng exhaled and started sorting the pile into categories. "Let’s do it in the attic. It’s roomy up there and there’s a big table."

Eileen nodded eagerly. But suddenly she noticed another bag beside them. It looked somewhat familiar.

"...What are those lotus roots for?" the doll girl asked with a puzzled expression.

Yu Sheng paused, looked at Eileen, then down at the bag of lotus roots. Two seconds later, he gave an awkward chuckle: "Uh, that’s my backup plan in case my craftsmanship turns out terrible. That’s how I see it..."

Eileen tilted her head and thought for a long while before finally catching on. She jumped up from her red velvet chair: "No way!"

"No?" Yu Sheng looked disappointed. "I thought the shape of these lotus roots was pretty perfect. I picked them out carefully."

"Of course not!" Eileen’s eyes were practically popping out. "Let me tell you, pre-made food is bad enough, but if you give me pre-made parts, I’m going to have serious objections!"

"Fine, fine," Yu Sheng sighed and carried the bag of lotus roots to the kitchen. "I’ll just fry them into lotus root boxes later."

Eileen suddenly had a bad feeling. She felt that her escape journey today might not go as smoothly as she had imagined...

But Yu Sheng was suddenly full of confidence. He organized the tools and materials needed to shape the doll’s body, then picked everything up, tucked Eileen’s painting under his arm, and grabbed the kitchen door handle.

Eileen reacted quickly this time: "...You’re going to use the 'door' just to go to the attic?!"

Yu Sheng thought about it, realized that would be ridiculously lazy, and gave an embarrassed smile. He carried the materials and Eileen and turned toward the stairs leading up.

This house had a large attic above the second floor. Calling it an attic was generous—it was more like an extra floor created because the original floor-to-ceiling height was too high. It was about half the size of the second floor and had two windows facing the street and a skylight. That’s why, from the outside, the house appeared to have three stories.

Except when cleaning, Yu Sheng rarely went up to the attic.

Because there was almost nothing there—just a large table that apparently had nowhere else to go, and two squeaky old chairs. At night or on overcast days with poor light, the overly spacious attic always seemed eerie and a little frightening.

But right now, it was perfect as a "workshop" for shaping Eileen’s body.

Yu Sheng made two trips, bringing up some tools that might come in handy from the second-floor storage room, an old desk lamp, and a bunch of strange items Eileen had requested for the "ritual." He piled everything onto the large attic table.

Eileen’s painting was placed at one corner of the table, propped up against a stack of old books acting as temporary supports. She watched quietly as Yu Sheng dashed around, busying himself, more silent than usual. No one knew what she was thinking.

Yu Sheng sat down at the large table. The old chair creaked. He clumsily fiddled with the clay and spatula, trying to get a feel for their "properties."

Eileen broke the silence: "Yu Sheng."

"Hm?"

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

"Yeah, if everything goes smoothly."

"...I never thought this day would actually come," Eileen murmured. "I’d given up hope a long time ago..."

"And now you suddenly feel emotional?" Yu Sheng looked up at the painted doll who seemed suddenly sentimental.

Eileen sat on the chair, hugging the toy bear and slowly rocking her body: "It’s nothing. I just want to thank you."

"Then save the thanks for after we succeed," Yu Sheng said softly, as if to calm his own nerves. "Now tell me, what’s the first step?"

"Candles, one at each corner of the table. Light one more and place it beside my painting. The basic torso must be completed before the candles burn out."

Eileen’s expression turned serious. She began guiding Yu Sheng on how to shape the container for a "living doll" using everyday materials.

This was the first time she had imparted this knowledge from "Alice’s Cottage" to a... "human."

"Draw three concentric circles on the table. They define your work area. Then from each corner candle, extend a line to intersect at the center of the circles. Try to make them round... Forget it, just don’t draw squares...

"Write my name at the center. E-I-L-E-E-N, in Old World Common Tongue... Ah, you don’t know that. Find a piece of paper. I’ll show you how to write it. Don’t misspell it.

"Also, I need a drop of your blood. Just a little. Mix it into the clay, then add the pre-prepared tea powder and rose oil. Don’t overdo either—it will affect the shaping. Place the prepared clay ball in front of me first. I’ll guide the first 'infusion of spirit.'"

Eileen gave orders one by one, and Yu Sheng followed them meticulously. A calm, focused atmosphere gradually settled over the attic. The usual bickering between them was gone, replaced by a gradually syncing cooperation.

...Actually, it wasn’t that smooth. Eileen relied mostly on optimism, and Yu Sheng on sheer confidence.

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

He could feel that the "ritual" Eileen mentioned was gradually taking effect. Those arrangements he couldn’t understand were beginning to operate according to some "law" and "force" he couldn’t comprehend. And as an ordinary person performing this "ritual" for the first time—even though most of the spirit infusion was done by Eileen—Yu Sheng still felt a sense of "mental energy draining."

But Eileen had warned him about this before the ritual started, so Yu Sheng didn’t panic. He kept his composure as best he could and tried to execute each step Eileen demanded as precisely as possible.

A doll’s body gradually took shape in his hands.

Rough, crude, crooked—one leg was longer than the other. The arm even broke once and had to be reattached with wire and water.

Yu Sheng felt he had no talent for this.

But at last, everything was nearing the end.

"You can extinguish the last candle now," Eileen said calmly, staring at the body on the table, her expression more solemn and serious than ever. "Then place me directly in front of the body, at head height."

"Okay," Yu Sheng got up to do it while casually asking, "And then?"

"Then I need a minute to comfort myself and strengthen my resolve..."

Yu Sheng: "...Why?"

Eileen looked on the verge of tears: "It’s so damn ugly... Even if it can be reshaped, right now it’s just too damn ugly."