Lady Shen did not speak immediately.
She let the water settle.
The pool was shallow and perfectly still now, lantern light breaking across its surface in clean lines. Zhou Wei stood where she had left them, hands relaxed at his sides, posture attentive without submission. Mei Lin mirrored him instinctively, her presence quiet but firm.
This was not a test of patience.
It was a test of attention.
"You understand what visibility costs," Lady Shen said at last, eyes still on the water. "Most people don't. They confuse being seen with being known."
She turned.
Her gaze was steady, unblinking, and carried the weight of someone who had decided long ago that hesitation was inefficient.
"I want you to interfere," she continued. "Publicly enough that denial becomes inconvenient. Quietly enough that the right people recognize intention."
Zhou Wei felt the warmth inside him respond, not pulling, but mapping.
"What," he asked.
"A transfer," Lady Shen replied. "Of ownership, influence, and reputation."
Mei Lin frowned slightly. "That's three things."
"Yes," Lady Shen said. "They rarely separate cleanly."
She gestured toward the far wall of the courtyard, where ivy climbed old stone. "There is a minor noble house in this city. Old name. Weak bloodline. They own property by habit, not by ability."
"And someone wants it," Zhou Wei said.
"They already have it," Lady Shen corrected. "On paper. They just don't know it yet."
Mei Lin's eyes sharpened. "You want us to make them realize."
"Yes."
Lady Shen stepped closer, lowering her voice slightly. "The house is bleeding coin. Their steward is corrupt. Their alliances are shallow. Someone has been positioning to acquire them quietly through debt."
"And you don't approve," Zhou Wei said.
"I approve of competence," Lady Shen replied. "This attempt lacks it."
Mei Lin crossed her arms. "So you want to expose the maneuver."
"No," Lady Shen said. "I want to redirect it."
She met Zhou Wei's gaze directly. "I want the acquisition to fail loudly, and the blame to fall in the wrong place."
Silence settled.
Zhou Wei considered the shape of the task. Public but deniable. Intervention without fingerprints. Damage precise enough to matter but controlled enough not to collapse the structure.
"You want a demonstration," he said.
"Yes."
"Of what," Mei Lin asked.
Lady Shen smiled. "Of judgment."
She turned and walked toward a low table set near the garden's edge, where a scroll lay waiting. She unrolled it partway, revealing names, dates, locations.
"You will attend a gathering," Lady Shen said. "A banquet. Public. Respectable. Dull enough that people relax."
Mei Lin grimaced. "I hate banquets."
"Good," Lady Shen replied. "They reveal impatience."
Zhou Wei scanned the information quickly, memorizing without staring. "What is our role."
"Observers," Lady Shen said. "Until you aren't."
She closed the scroll. "You will not accuse. You will not threaten. You will not reveal information directly."
"Then how do we interfere," Mei Lin asked.
Lady Shen's gaze flicked to her. "You make the right people uncomfortable."
Zhou Wei felt the intent clearly now. Social leverage. Pressure applied where reputation could not afford strain.
"And the target," he asked.
Lady Shen named him.
A minor noble cousin. Not the head. The ambitious one. The one who thought himself clever.
Mei Lin exhaled slowly. "He'll panic."
"Yes," Lady Shen said. "And panic makes mistakes visible."
She stepped back, folding her hands. "You will be seen speaking to people he wants approval from. You will be seen leaving conversations before they conclude. You will let him imagine what you know."
"And if he confronts us," Zhou Wei asked.
Lady Shen's eyes glinted. "Then you disappoint him politely."
Mei Lin tilted her head. "And if he doesn't."
"Then you leave," Lady Shen said. "And the doubt does the rest."
Zhou Wei nodded once. "What happens after."
Lady Shen considered him for a moment longer than necessary. "After, the house collapses into a negotiation it can't win. I step in. Quietly."
"And us," Mei Lin said.
"You will be associated with my circle," Lady Shen replied. "Enough that people adjust behavior. Not enough that they demand allegiance."
That was a narrow line.
Lady Shen seemed to read the thought. "You may refuse," she said. "But if you accept, understand this."
She leaned in slightly, her voice lowering.
"I do not protect people who create chaos. I protect people who create outcomes."
Zhou Wei met her gaze steadily. "We prefer outcomes."
Mei Lin nodded. "On our terms."
Lady Shen smiled, genuinely this time. "Good."
She straightened. "The banquet is in three nights. You will be provided attire. Not extravagant. Appropriate."
She paused, then added, "One more thing."
Zhou Wei waited.
"You will not act as one unit," Lady Shen said. "You will enter separately. Circulate separately. Leave separately."
Mei Lin's expression flickered. Not fear. Calculation.
"And if someone tries to separate us forcibly," Mei Lin asked.
Lady Shen's gaze sharpened. "Then they reveal themselves as a problem."
Zhou Wei felt the warmth inside him settle into a tighter coil.
Lady Shen stepped back, signaling the end of the meeting. "Rest. Observe. Do nothing reckless."
They were escorted out without ceremony.
The city swallowed them again, noise and lantern light rushing in as the compound gates closed behind them. Mei Lin walked in silence for a long moment before speaking.
"She's dangerous," she said.
"Yes," Zhou Wei replied.
"And honest."
"Yes."
She exhaled. "That's worse than lies."
They returned to the bathhouse room and sat without lighting the lamp, letting the city's glow seep in through the window.
"This is different," Mei Lin said quietly. "From Chen Yue. From the sect."
"Yes," Zhou Wei agreed. "This is scale."
She looked at him. "Are we ready for that."
Zhou Wei did not answer immediately.
He thought of Elder Zhang. Of the sect. Of the way institutions tried to erase problems by shrinking them.
"No," he said finally. "But readiness is rarely offered."
Mei Lin nodded. "Then we prepare."
Zhou Wei felt the warmth inside him respond, not with hunger, but with alignment. This was not corruption feeding.
This was positioning.
Three nights from now, they would step into visibility by design rather than accident.
And the city would learn their shape.