Book 8: Chapter 44: Escape!
“Lo Meifeng’s right,” said Grandmother Lu. “You should use sects to secure your holdings. It’s efficient.”
Sen nodded and even managed to keep a calm expression while he did it. He’d been getting a lot of practice at those just lately. He’d also been dragging his feet on the decision to use the sects because… He sighed. It was just because he didn’t like it. He knew it was the right move. He’d just been hoping that Grandmother Lu would have some excellent reason that they shouldn’t do it. Accepting the inevitable, he looked over at Lo Meifeng, who was at least making half of an effort not to look smugly satisfied.
“Make the arrangements. Negotiate whatever seems like fair payment.”
“I will,” said Lo Meifeng. “Now that we’ve finally settled that, we should move on to—”
The door opened and Long Jia Wei stuck his head into the room. Sen could hear Pan Shiji making infuriated noises in the other room.
“Yes?” asked Sen, praying that the man had some crisis that needed to be dealt with immediately.
“Lord Lu, there is a woman here to see you.”
“What woman?” demanded Grandmother Lu, Lo Meifeng, and Pan Shiji in perfect, annoyed unison.
Long Jia Wei cast a wary look around before turning to Sen again.