The doorknob to the kitchen turned once, then silently pushed open, and Yu Sheng walked out with several large bags, greeting Erin not far away who was staring in astonishment: "I'm back."
Erin's eyes were wide as saucers, obviously unable to comprehend the situation at once: "Didn't you go out to buy things? How come from..."
She suddenly stopped, seeming to have understood.
"No way! You even have to 'open a door' to return from shopping?!"
"I've thought about it, since this door doesn't only lead to the Exotic Realm but can also reach a 'far place' in reality, then there's no reason it can't go somewhere closer," Yu Sheng told Erin with a proud face, "By the way, I also tested transporting items and living creatures through this door. It seems as long as the door's stability is maintained, they can all pass through it smoothly..."
Erin was all astounded upon hearing this, and became a little curious upon the mention of "living creatures": "Living creatures?! Where did you get a living creature from? Where is it?"
Yu Sheng stretched out his hand: "Before coming back, I caught a mosquito..."
Erin: "…?"
The living doll gained a whole new understanding of Yu Sheng's creativity and then couldn't help but focus on the several large shopping bags he had brought back.
The first thing she saw was a case of bottled congee.
As Yu Sheng was taking out items from the bags, he properly placed the case of congee, then showed the rest to Erin: "I got some lightweight clay. Since I bought a huge amount, the shop even gave me some tools, but we won't need these, they're for making small dolls. For making your body, we will need this—I bought a rolling pin...
"Here are hair and paint, all of good quality. Though not the most expensive, they're nearly as good.
"Oh right, I couldn't find suitable clothes for you. Shall we..."
"No need," Erin waved her hand, looking at Yu Sheng taking things out, her face now full of anticipation and excitement, "I can 'shape' the clothes myself. As I said, this body mainly serves as a medium and a temporary container... wow, you really brought back a lot of stuff, Yu Sheng. You put a lot of effort into this, huh?"
"Nonsense, if I'm going to do it, I either don't do it or I do it as best as I can," Yu Sheng said, but then frowned and shook his head, "Honestly, this still isn't everything. I heard about clay drying ovens and all sorts of filler, softening oils, primers, makeup tools, and whatnot, but looking at them, some could only be used for small dolls, or they were something I couldn't learn how to use quickly. Plus, I have a problem—clay needs time to dry, and without a drying oven, it's not going to be enough time to harden large components in half a day..."
"No problem, that's not important, as long as we can make a framework," Erin looked extremely happy, her tone exceptionally gentle as she spoke to Yu Sheng, "The important part is the ritual, yes, the ritual part—otherwise I could've just had you buy a ready-made doll to bring back, and it would not have been so troublesome."
"That's fine then," Yu Sheng let out a breath and started categorizing the vast array of items, "Let's go to the attic to do it, there's a wide space there and a big table."
Erin nodded hurriedly but abruptly noticed another bag of stuff, which looked somewhat familiar.
"...What's this bag of lotus roots for?" the living doll asked with a puzzled look.
Yu Sheng paused, glanced at Erin, then looked at the bag of lotus roots, and after two seconds let out a chuckle: "Well, this is a backup plan in case my craftsmanship is too crude, that's how I see it..."
Erin titled her head and thought for a good while before finally catching up to Yu Sheng's train of thought, immediately bouncing out of her red velvet armchair: "No way!"
"No good?" Yu Sheng sounded a bit disappointed, "I thought these lotus roots had a pretty perfect shape after half a day of selecting."
"Of course it's no good!" Erin nearly popped her eyes out, "I'm telling you, it's already too much to get prefabricated food, if you start using prefab parts for me, I'll have major objections..."
"Alright, alright," Yu Sheng sighed, taking the bag of lotus roots to the kitchen, "Then we'll use them for making fried lotus root cakes later on."
Erin suddenly had a bad premonition; she felt that her journey to escape confinement today might not proceed as smoothly as she imagined...
But at this moment, Yu Sheng seemed full of confidence, finishing the organization of tools and materials needed to shape the body of the doll. He picked up the items with one hand, and tucked Erin's painting frame under his arm, then reached for the kitchen doorknob.
Erin responded quickly this time: "... You even need to 'open a door' to go to the attic?"
Yu Sheng thought about it and felt that it did seem slightly too lazy, so he laughed awkwardly and turned, along with the materials and Erin, toward the stairs leading upstairs.
The house had a very large attic just above the second floor; although it's called an attic, it looked more like an additional level that had to be separated out because the original construction left an overly high ceiling. It's about half the size of the second floor and has two street-facing windows and a skylight—this is why from the outside, you could see the house as having three stories.
Yu Sheng rarely went to the attic, except when cleaning.
That's because there was almost nothing up there, apart from a large table seemingly left there for lack of space to place anywhere else, and only two old chairs that would creak, making the overly spacious attic look quite eerie during night or on cloudy days when the light was poor.
But now, it was perfectly suited to serve as the "workshop" for crafting Erin's body.
Yu Sheng ran back and forth twice, collecting a variety of possibly useful tools from the second floor's storage room, an old desk lamp, and all sorts of weird things Erin had requested and that were needed for the "ritual", bringing them all to the large table in the attic.
Erin's frame was placed in a corner of the table, leaning against a stack of old books temporarily serving as a support, as she quietly watched Yu Sheng bustling around, somehow even quieter than usual, with who knows what on her mind.
Yu Sheng sat at the large table, the old chair creaking as he awkwardly handled the clay and spatula, beginning to familiarize himself with their "properties".
Suddenly, Erin broke the silence: "Yu Sheng."
"Hmm?"
"I'm really going to come out of this painting."
"Yeah, if all goes well."
"…I never thought this day would actually come," Erin murmured softly, "I had given up hope many years ago…"
"Now you suddenly remember to be sentimental?" Yu Sheng looked up, glancing at the seemingly suddenly sentimental figure in the painting.
Erin sat on the chair, hugging a teddy bear while slowly rocking her body: "It's nothing, I just wanted to say thank you."
"Let's save the thanks until after we succeed," Yu Sheng exhaled gently, seemingly trying to ease a bit of tension in his heart, "Now tell me, what's the first step?"
"Candles, place one at each corner of the table, and light another one to put beside my frame—the most basic part of the torso must be completed before the candles burn out."
Erin's expression turned serious, beginning to guide Yu Sheng on how to create the "living doll's" container using a bunch of materials commonly found in everyday life.
This was the first time she was passing on knowledge that belonged to "Alice's Cottage" to someone... a "human."
"Draw three concentric circles on the table, which will be the range of your workspace. Then extend a line from each candle at the corners, intersecting at the center of the concentric circles… Try to make it more circular… Never mind, just don't draw it square…
"Write my name in the center, Erin, in the common language of the old world… Ah, you can't, so first find a piece of paper, I'll tell you how to write it, make sure not to get it wrong.
"Also, you'll need some of your blood, just a little, mix it into the clay, then add the tea powder and rose oil you prepared beforehand, don't add too much, it might affect the shaping—place the prepared ball of clay in front of me first, I'll guide the first 'Spirit Injection'."
Erin instructed step by step, and Yu Sheng followed meticulously. A quiet and focused atmosphere gradually enveloped the attic, and the usual bickering between the two was absent, replaced by an increasingly instinctive cooperation.
…Actually, the cooperation wasn't that instinctive; it relied mostly on Erin's tolerance, and Yu Sheng's confidence.
The process turned out to be more exhausting than Yu Sheng had initially imagined, not just physically, but also mentally.
He could feel the "ritual" that Erin had mentioned gradually taking effect. Those arrangements he couldn't understand were beginning to operate according to some "rule" and "Power" beyond his comprehension. As someone performing this kind of "ritual" for the first time as an ordinary person, even though most of the Spirit Injection process was performed by Erin, Yu Sheng could still sense a kind of spiritual "Power drain."
But this was a scenario Erin had warned him about before the ritual began, so Yu Sheng did not panic. Instead, he tried his best to maintain his composure, executing every step Erin had asked for with precision.
The body of the doll was gradually taking shape in his hands.
Rough, shabby, twisted, with legs of uneven lengths—one arm even broke midway and had to be reattached with wire and water.
Yu Sheng felt he might not have a natural talent for this.
But regardless, everything was finally drawing to a close.
"Now you can extinguish the last candle," the Erin in the frame watched the body on the table, her expression more solemn and serious than ever, "then place me in front of the body, where the head should be."
"Okay," Yu Sheng stood up to perform the task while casually asking, "What next?"
"Then I need a minute to comfort myself and fortify my belief…"
Yu Sheng: "…Why?"
Erin looked like she was about to cry: "It's too damn ugly… even though it can be reshaped, it's just too damn ugly to look at right now."