Ning set the courtyard tables under the persimmon tree and counted the plates twice.
Guests brought dishes from their own houses, but the number kept changing as families asked whether another neighbor could join. A grower carried a stack of bowls. One of the border families brought a pot of greens. Fen’s kitchen sent grain and stew, bought from the shared supply account. Ning had expected a small supper after the water vote; by sunset, people filled the benches and stood along the wall.
“Bring two more plates,” she told Yan. “And put the cups where everyone can reach them.”
Yan carried the dishes from the kitchen. He stacked bowls by size and set the cups on the far end of the table, where a basket blocked them.
Qinghe saw the arrangement and laughed. “He’s protected the cups from the guests.”
“They’re fragile,” Yan said.
Ning moved the basket and put the cups in the center. “They are also for drinking.”
More chairs arrived. Olan sat beside the family whose eastern orchard he was helping restore. He listened as their daughter described the rows she could reach with the new water flow. He did not correct her when she called the work “our planting.” The temporary agreement gave them both a reason to tend the field, even though the land was not his.
