Repairing the Old Devil's Work Ball, Almost Done!

Shen Le watched the old woman slowly wipe down her tools, pausing to rest every two strokes, feeling a bit anxious:

Would these tools slip from her hands and cause the old lady some injury?

As she wiped, a seven or eight-year-old child suddenly came running in with a thumping sound. The child leaned against the old woman and stood on tiptoe:

"Grandma! Grandma! Are you cleaning your tools again? Grandma, will you teach me how to carve a little monkey?"

"You haven't finished whittling that little rabbit from last time yet." The old woman picked a carving knife from the toolbox and handed it to the child:

"Come, whittle it for Grandma to see. Once the little rabbit is carved perfectly, Grandma will teach you how to carve a little monkey..."

The grandmother and grandchild huddled together, one teaching and one learning, in a scene of heartwarming harmony.

After whittling for a while, the child took the ink marker from the old woman's hand, held the lead weight up before their eyes, and flicked the Jujube Wood Devil's Work Ball attached to it:

"Grandma, did Grandpa make this three-layered wooden ball?"

"That's right... your grandfather made this wooden ball to propose to me..."

"Grandpa is so amazing! Grandma, I want to be as amazing as Grandpa when I grow up, and I want to make a wooden ball like this too!"

As the lights flickered, Shen Le opened his eyes with a smile and stroked the ink marker at his side.

Is this your memory?

Were you created solely to prove the suitor's technical skill so that this marriage could be sealed?

You watched them come to know each other, fall in love, propose, and pledge their hearts;

You watched them support each other through the long journey of life, from the glorious era of the factory to its eventual closure, the layoffs of the workers, and their subsequent struggle against fate;

You witnessed their love, their lives, and the passing down of their craftsmanship and passion...

To share the same passion and the same interests, and to be able to accompany one another until old age—what a blessed life that is!

Thinking back to the couple who sold him the toolbox, judging by their age and the inheritance of the ink marker, they were likely the son and daughter-in-law of the elderly couple.

With them arguing every day to the point of divorce, it was no wonder the ink marker was so exasperated.

Shen Le put himself in the ink marker's shoes; if he were the ink marker, he would probably brandish his ink line and give those two unfilial descendants a good thrashing...

He composed his emotions and returned to work. As he began, Shen Le couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised:

"It feels like... my craftsmanship has improved!"

With several segments of memory infused into him, had the work experience of the ink marker's owner been included as well?

When he picked up the carving knife again, he felt that every movement was much smoother and more accurate!

The previous stumbling blocks—where he would slip after two cuts or accidentally gouge something—were gone entirely.

Excellent!

Pushing forward, victory was within reach!

He patiently set to work, using the wood chisel, carving knife, and needle knife in tandem.

Before long, the Jujube Wood Devil's Work Ball in his hands became even more rounded, and the innermost bead began to spin with increasing smoothness and agility.

At this point, Shen Le set aside the carving tools and began to tinker with the original Devil's Work Ball.

The original was a testament to a young man's burning love and the unwavering devotion of an elderly couple through decades of trials and tribulations.

It was better to restore it by keeping the old as old, rather than replacing it.

First, the classic trio: woodworking glue, woodworking powder, and fast-drying woodworking glue. He poured them in, filling the entire interior of the Devil's Work Ball;

Then, he waited for the glue to dry, allowing the woodworking powder to firmly adhere inside the ball, creating a solid core, leaving only the outermost damaged layer unfilled;

Finally, he took out the silicone powder, mixed the glue, and prepared to make a mold!

While it wasn't difficult to carve based on the original, making a mold would clearly yield higher accuracy!

Shen Le had followed his master in restoring ancient architecture, climbing roofs and entering underground palaces; he could handle heavy work like replacing beams and pillars, as well as delicate work like carving the eyebrows and hair of wooden statues.

Naturally, casting a mold was well within his skill set, and he had done it many times himself.

He found the leftover food-grade silicone powder and mixed it with water in a 1:1 ratio.

He used kraft paper to make a cylinder with a 2-centimeter diameter, filled it with oil clay, and pressed the lower half of the Devil's Work Ball into it.

He applied a layer of Vaseline to the upper half, brushed on several layers of the silicone solution, and poured the rest in—

He put it in the refrigerator, let it sit for 30 minutes, and then demolded it!

"Beautiful!"

Thanks to the Vaseline barrier, the silicone separated from the Devil's Work Ball perfectly. Looking into the silicone mold, the carved dragon, dragon whiskers, and dragon scales were all clearly visible.

Shen Le gave himself a mental pat on the back. Then, he took a single wooden bead and began to carefully carve it, following the pattern of the Devil's Work Ball:

He first used a pencil to sketch the draft, drawing fan-shaped dragon scales of uniform size, layered one upon another;

Next, he swapped the smallest needle knife onto his handheld electric drill and, following the lines of his sketch, carved row by row to create the shape of the dragon scales;

The final step was the precision finishing; whether the dragon scales looked vivid or not depended on this. Shen Le held his breath, slightly tilted the needle knife, aimed at the overlapping parts of the scales, and meticulously carved downward—

"Ouch!"

The wooden bead was truly too small. With one careless slip, the needle knife slid off the bead and onto the woodworking clamp beside it, producing a series of "Clang! Szz--" sounds.

Fortunately, Shen Le had his hand spread wide, pressing down on the woodworking clamp from a distance, so he didn't catch a strike, but it still left him in a cold sweat.

"Should I just use Woodworking Powder to cast a mold instead?"

He muttered softly, then shook his head. For the sake of the love between the old couple who were the former owners of the ink marker, he wanted to restore it as perfectly as possible; the fewer regrets left behind, the better.

If it could be carved out of a solid piece of wood and attached, then there was no need for Woodworking Powder!

Shen Le took a deep breath and pressed on. After failing seven or eight times, he finally carved a piece of dragon pattern, then covered it with silicone to cast a mold, carefully measuring it:

"The dragon scales on the left are still a bit too high; they need more trimming..."

Long for a carpenter, short for a blacksmith, neither long nor short for a stonemason. A carpenter doesn't fear that what they carve is too long or too much; if there's excess, they just shave it down.

He measured back and forth seven or eight times, making modifications seven or eight times, until the two sides finally fit together perfectly, seamless and without a single pit or bump.

Next, he cut off the other side of the wooden ball, hollowed it out, and according to the thickness of the first layer of the Devil's Work Ball, excavated a wooden shell bearing the carvings. After measuring a few times, he cut out a shape identical to the original missing part, placed it on top, and it embedded perfectly!

"Well done!"

Shen Le gave himself a thumbs-up.

The embedded part and the original part of the Devil's Work Ball—the undulations of the dragon's body, the overlapping of the dragon scales, and the inward-facing circular holes—every detail had smooth lines, and it was impossible to tell that one piece had been added later.

Now, as long as he polished away the wood powder stuffed inside the old Devil's Work Ball and carved the patterns for the second layer, the entire ball would be restored...

Then he could rest easy and wait for the ink marker to come to life, and wait for the Copper Fragment to give him a huge reward!