The kitchen door handle turned once, then pushed open quietly. Yu Sheng walked out of the door carrying several large bags, and greeted the stunned Irene not far away: "I'm back."
Erin's eyes widened, and she obviously didn't realize what was going on: "Didn't you go out to buy something? How did you start from..."
She suddenly stopped, as if she had come to her senses.
"No way! You go to a shopping mall and you have to open the door when you come home!?"
"I thought about it. Since this door not only leads to foreign lands, but also to a certain 'distant' place in reality, it makes no sense that it can't go to a closer place," Yu Sheng said with a proud look on his face.
He said to Eileen, "By the way, I also tested carrying items and living creatures through this door. It seems that as long as the door is stable, they can pass through the door smoothly..."
Irene was stunned for a while, and she was a little curious when she heard the word "living things": "Living things?! Where did you get the living things? Where?"
Yu Sheng stretched out his hand: "I caught a mosquito before I came back..."
Erin: "...?"
Miss Doll had a new understanding of life's creativity, and then her attention couldn't help but fall on 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 poured out the contents of the shopping bag, first put away the box of eight-treasure porridge, and then showed the remaining items to Irene: "I bought light clay. Because I bought a huge amount, the store also gave it to me as a gift.
I bought some tools, but these tools are probably not needed. They are all used for making small dolls. If I want to make your body, you need to use this - I bought a rolling pin...
"Here are the hair and paints. They are all well bought. Although they are not the most expensive ones, they are almost the same.
"By the way, I didn't find any suitable clothes for you. You see..."
"No need," Irene waved her hand. She watched Yu Sheng pour things out, her face was full of expectation and excitement at this time, "I can 'shape' the clothes myself. I said, this body is mainly
It is used as a medium and temporary container... Wow, there are so many things, Yu Sheng, have you really paid attention to it?"
"Nonsense, at least do it once. Either don't do it, or try to do it as well as possible," Yu Sheng said, but frowned and shook his head, "But to be honest, this thing is probably not complete. I heard that there is also a clay drying box.
And various soil replenishers, softening oils, primers, makeup tools and more
Yes, but I took a look and found that either it can only be used for small dolls, or I can't learn it in a short time. And I still have a problem. Clay needs time to dry. If there is no drying oven
, half a day is not enough time for large-volume components to dry and harden..."
"It's okay, it doesn't matter. As long as we can figure out the framework," Irene seemed to be in a very good mood, and even her tone when talking to Yu Sheng was extremely soft. "The important thing is the ritual part, yes, the ritual part - otherwise
I can just ask you to buy a ready-made doll, so there is no need to go to such trouble."
"That's okay," Yu Sheng breathed out and began to sort out the pile of things in categories, "Then let's go to the attic to do it. There is a spacious place and a big table up there."
Irene nodded, but suddenly, she noticed another bag of things next to her, which looked familiar.
"...What is this bag of lotus roots for?" Miss Doll asked with a question mark on her face.
Yu Sheng paused in his movements, looked up at Irene, then looked down at the bag of lotus roots, and two seconds later he laughed dryly: "What, this is an alternative plan in case my skills are too fashionable.
, I understand it this way..."
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 carpet chair on the spot: "No!"
"Isn't it possible?" Yu Sheng was a little disappointed when he heard this, "I also said that the shape of the lotus root was quite perfect. It took me a long time to pick it up."
"Of course not!" Irene's eyes almost popped out of her head, "Let me tell you, the prefabricated dishes are already too much, and I have a strong objection to you serving me prefabricated dishes..."
"Okay, okay," Yu Sheng sighed and carried the bag of lotus roots to the kitchen, "Then let's get the fried lotus root box later."
Erin suddenly had a bad premonition. She felt that her escape journey today might not go as smoothly as she imagined...
But Yu Sheng became more confident at this time. He sorted out the tools and materials needed to shape the doll's body, picked up the things with one hand, put Irene's picture frame under his arm, and reached out to hold the kitchen door handle.
.
Eileen's response was quick this time: "...You just go to an attic and you still have to open the 'door'!?"
Yu Sheng thought for a while and felt that this seemed a bit too lazy, so he smiled awkwardly, took the materials and Irene and turned around towards the stairs leading upstairs.
This house has a large attic, just above the second floor. If it is called an attic, it is more like a separate floor that had to be separated because the floor height was too high when the house was built. Its area
It is about half the size of the second floor, and has two windows facing the street and a skylight - which is why from the outside, you can see that the house has three floors in total.
Except when cleaning, Yu Sheng rarely goes to the attic.
Because there was almost nothing there, except for a large table that seemed to have been placed because there was no room for it, there were only two squeaky old chairs. Every time it was night or cloudy and the light was poor, it was too
An empty attic always looks eerie and a bit scary.
But now it is just the right place to serve as a "workshop" for shaping Erin'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 all kinds of weird things required for the "ritual" that Irene requested.
Everything was transported to the big table in the attic.
Irene's picture frame was placed on the corner of the table, leaning against a pile of old books that served as a makeshift stand. She quietly watched Yu Sheng running around and busy, appearing quieter than ever before and not knowing what was going on.
What are you thinking about.
Yu Sheng sat in front of the big table. The old chair made a creaking sound. He played with the clay and spatula unfamiliarly, and began to try to familiarize himself with their "performance".
Eileen suddenly broke the silence: "Yu Sheng."
"Um?"
"I'm really going to get out of this painting."
"Yes, if everything goes well."
"...I didn't expect that such a day would actually come," Eileen muttered in a low voice, "In fact, I gave up hope many years ago..."
"Now you suddenly think of feeling this again?" Yu Sheng raised his head and glanced at the puppet in the painting who suddenly seemed sentimental.
Erin sat on the chair, holding the teddy bear and slowly rocking her body: "It's nothing, I just want to thank you."
"Then let's put gratitude after success," Yu Sheng breathed out softly, as if to relieve some tension in his heart, "Now tell me, what is the first step?"
"Place the candles in the four corners of the table, light another one, and place it next to my picture frame - the most basic torso part must be completed before the candle burns 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 container shaping of the "living doll".
This is the first time she has imparted the knowledge belonging to "Alice's Cabin" to a... "human being".
"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 draw a circle... Forget it, don't draw it.
Just make it into a square shape...
"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, then find a piece of paper first, and I'll tell you how to write it. Make sure you don't spell it wrong.
"In addition, I need your blood, just a little. Mix it into the clay, and then mix in the tea powder and rose oil prepared in advance. Don't add too much, as it will affect the molding. Put the prepared clay ball in front of me first.
, I will guide the first 'spiritual injection'."
Irene gave instructions one by one, and Yu Sheng executed them meticulously. A quiet and focused atmosphere gradually lingered in the attic. There was no usual bickering between the two, but only a gradually tacit understanding of cooperation.
...In fact, there is not much tacit understanding. Aileen mainly relies on his tolerance, while Yu Sheng mainly relies on his self-confidence.
This process was more tiring than Yu Sheng originally imagined, not only physically but also mentally draining.
He could feel that the "ritual" mentioned by Irene was gradually taking effect, and the arrangements that he could not understand were beginning to operate with some "law" and "power" that he could not understand. As a first-time performer of this kind,
An ordinary person in the "ritual" (), even though most of the spiritual infusion process of the ritual was completed by Irene, Yu Sheng also felt a "power flow" on the spiritual level.
But this was something Irene had reminded me of before the ceremony began, so Yu Sheng did not panic, but maintained his condition as much as possible and completed every step required by Irene as accurately as possible.
The body of a doll gradually took shape in his hands.
It was rough, crude, and crooked, and even its two legs were of different lengths—its arm was broken once in the middle and had to be reattached with wire and water.
Yu Sheng felt that he might not have the talent in this area.
But anyway, everything is finally coming to an end.
"Now you can put out the last candle," Irene in the frame looked at the body on the table calmly, her expression unprecedentedly dignified and serious, "and then put me right in front of the body, where the head is."
"Okay," Yu Sheng asked casually as he stood up to complete the process, "What next?"
"Then I needed a minute to comfort myself and to strengthen my faith..."
Yu Sheng: "...why?"
Chapter completed!