Shen Le happily considered how to spend this large sum of money.
His fume hood!
His cement walls and cement-floor workshop!
His new phone!
He'd have them all!
And every cent of this money would go straight into his own pocket. He wouldn't have to split it with Xiao Ling—and, of course, he wouldn't have to split it with Little Ink Marker, either!
You took someone's money, you did the job. Shen Le hurried home. Faced with six square tables, twenty or thirty chairs, and a cabinet, he immediately took out his phone and started making a plan:
"This table has a broken leg and a chunk missing from the top. It'll probably need half a length of 4×4×20 elm wood and one 10×10 board..."
"This table has a huge hole in it. Good grief, all four legs are cracked from the impact. This one needs two lengths of 4×4×20 and—let's see—two 10×10 boards..."
"This chair..."
He recorded and calculated everything, put together a list, then started sorting the lumber and matching pieces of furniture into groups according to the markings on the wood.
"Finally, I'm about to have a big payday." After moving the lumber, Shen Le picked up the Lead Weight from the Ink Marker and tossed it in the air.
"Little Ink Marker, I fixed you up, so you'd better work hard for me! The whole batch of furniture is counting on you!"
The Ink Line on the Ink Marker quivered and buzzed, expressing delight, excitement, and enthusiasm.
The Ink Marker was different from Little Puppet. It had been made as a tool. During the decades it spent with its first owner, an unshakable belief had taken root in it:
Work was the most important thing. Work was the most glorious thing. Work was the best way to realize one's value.
So when Shen Le gave it a job, there was no need to promise it wages or paint it a rosy picture. The Ink Marker responded with complete confidence:
[All right! Leave it to me!]
"Give it your all! I'm counting on you! Fix up this furniture, and I'll think of a way to bring your companions back to life sooner, too! Oh, right—there's one more thing. What's your name?"
"Huh?!"
The Ink Line buzzed twice more. A feeling of confusion reached Shen Le:
[Name?]
[What's a name?]
[Why do I need a name?]
Well...
This child's sense of self hadn't really awakened yet. It was different from Xiao Ling.
Perhaps because Xiao Ling had been moving around in human form ever since she was made, she naturally thought of herself as a "person" and expected all the things a "person" should have. Her previous owner had also given her a name and talked to her.
But ever since the Ink Marker was made, it had always just been an ink marker. Its owner never talked to it; whenever he needed it, he simply picked it up and used it.
Over time, the Ink Marker hadn't felt that it needed a name?
"Then... do you want a name?"
Little Ink Marker sent him another wave of confusion. Shen Le patiently explained:
"For example, my name is Shen Le. Your first owner was Zheng Aijun, and his wife was Changle. Their son, your previous owner, was called Zheng Xiaohua.
"You've talked to the Little Puppet in the house, right? Have you become friends? It has a name of its own. It's called Xiao Ling..."
[Then what am I called? Ink Marker?]
"You probably can't just be called Ink Marker." Shen Le opened his computer, searched Taobao for "ink marker," and clicked on a webpage. He picked up Little Ink Marker and showed it the screen.
"Look, this one's an ink marker. This one's an ink marker, too, and so is this one. Your first owner must have used other ink markers besides you, right? His colleagues all had their own ink markers, too, right?"
[...]
Little Ink Marker fell silent. After a long while, the Ink Line buzzed again:
[So I need a name of my own, to tell me apart from these ink markers and everyone else's ink markers?]
"Exactly! A name that belongs to you, a one-of-a-kind name!" Shen Le finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, he'd finally gotten through to it. But there was one more important point he had to explain:
"Of course, it has to be a name you want for yourself, one you want to use to distinguish yourself from others. If you don't want one, or you don't know what name you want, you can take your time thinking it over. We can go slowly."
[Then... what should my name be?]
"We can keep calling you Little Ink Marker for now. After all, you're the only ink marker in this house." Shen Le answered without hesitation:
"You can take your time and think until you come up with a name you like. Or I can suggest a few, and you can pick the one you like best."
[Then you pick one for me!]
The Lead Weight flew up, pulling the Ink Line into several loops before bouncing once. Shen Le did his best to ignore the little flecks of ink splattered across the floor and thought carefully.
"You're an ink marker... Ink markers are used to measure lengths and snap straight lines. How about Ink Measure? Or Ink Straight?"
Little Ink Marker showed no reaction. It seemed it didn't like either name. Shen Le thought it over again:
"Or you could take your previous owner's surname. Or mine? How about Zheng Mo? Or Shen Mo?"
[Zheng Mo! Zheng Mo sounds nice!]
The Lead Weight spun a happy circle. Shen Le smiled and patted its lion-shaped head.
"Great, then Zheng Mo it is!"
Well, the bond he'd formed by restoring it to like-new condition still couldn't compare to the bond it had with its previous owner, who had made it by hand and used it for decades.
Maybe in a few years, if I give it a name, it'll be willing to take my surname?
Shen Le shrugged and consoled himself that, no matter what, Little Ink Marker now belonged to his household. He turned away, and Zheng Mo was already hard at work, full of energy.
Before long, the East Wing, which he was using as a workshop, filled with a chorus of sounds:
Swish, swish, swish—furniture being scrubbed.
Scritch, scritch, scritch—old paint being scraped off the wood.
Snap, snap, snap—Ink Lines being snapped.
Creak, creak, creak—wood being sawed...
Amid the lively bustle, Shen Le retreated to the main bedroom, the main room of the house, where he'd just installed an air conditioner. He took out the Copper Fragment and began rubbing it carefully, pressing it, poking it.
This Copper Fragment had improved again. It should give him a third skill, right?
What would it be?
But this time, the Copper Fragment didn't respond right away. Shen Le calmed his mind and focused, performed the Five Animal Frolics three times, then cycled the Spirit Eye Technique once. Only when he guided the heat flow to touch the second glowing dot did the Copper Fragment give a hum and shine brightly.
In the light, Shen Le's vision flickered, and he was pulled into a strange space.
The surroundings were neither bright nor dark. Auras of various colors circled around him, drifting gently.
Some moved fast, some slow, some were almost motionless, and some darted back and forth. Others often collided, giving off a faint crackle.
Shen Le watched for a long while, then reached out and tried to scoop some up.
"Huh..."
The auras were like fish swimming in water. They looked easy enough to touch, but when he reached out, they drifted away with the current his fingers stirred.
Shen Le tried to scoop them up, but caught nothing. He tried cupping his hands around them, but couldn't catch any. Back and forth, it was like trying to grasp the moon reflected in water. After struggling for quite a while, he finally thought of a way:
He half-closed his eyes and silently circulated his Internal Energy. The heat flow extended to his fingertips. Sure enough, the auras stopped avoiding him and obediently let him scoop them up. Shen Le grew excited and swiped left and right.
"Caught one!"
"Caught another!"
"Hey, these two are the same. I caught both of them!"
"Squish two into one... Nice! As long as the auras are the same, I can merge them together. That's great!"