Han gathered the crews in the yard and pinned up a new shift board. No one would take two furnace cycles in one day. Workers with lingering tremors could choose lighter duties without losing their place in the wage line. The board also listed two people the crew could approach if a name or assignment was wrong.
Lian read the schedule aloud. “Sella for the machinery. Me for the people.”
A worker laughed. “You can barely lift a kettle.”
“I can still read a board.”
Qinghe visited the worker houses with a medicine kit. Families showed her how they had changed daily routines for relatives whose hands shook. One child had built a wooden stand that kept his mother’s bowl from tipping. Qinghe asked if she could copy the design for the infirmary.
“You can copy it,” the child said, “but I’m painting mine.”
Yan offered to make the stand stronger. The boy put a brush in his hand instead. Yan studied the blue paint on his thumb. “That is not the task I expected.”
“Now it’s yours,” the child said.
