Chapter 1451 - Hidden Agendas (Part 1)
By the time Majia returned to his office at the Arbitration Court, it was already quite late. An Xi, the Office Director, was waiting for him. Although this young man was always dedicated, there wasn't much work to do today—clearly he had something important to say.
Seeing him return, An Xi immediately brought over the prepared tea. "Executive Commissioner Ma, here's your tea."
"Don't be so formal. We're all transmigrators. This Executive Commissioner position is only temporary. If you keep this up, I really can't take it." Majia smiled.
"Not at all, not at all. You are my senior and upperclassman. Showing some respect is entirely appropriate," An Xi replied without changing expression.
An Xi and Majia had indeed received diplomas from the same domestic university—however, Majia's was a law degree from the Law School, while An Xi's was a legal studies associate degree from the Distance Education College. Were it not for everyone having become transmigrators in this new era, Majia would never have acknowledged An Xi as a fellow alumnus, let alone as some kind of "junior brother."
"Let's not do this! If you have something to say, just say it." Majia said with a smile.
"Today you sent me to inform Transmigrator Yang about the case, and he seemed quite depressed. He held on to me and talked for quite a while. I sense this matter has hit him hard. Also, when he learned Yang Jihong was already pregnant, he became very emotional."
Majia nodded. This was to be expected. Though he hadn't had direct contact with Yang Xinwu, the case file made clear that this Transmigrator Yang obviously had genuine feelings for his domestic secretary.
"Regarding the Lin Xiaoya case trial, I have an idea—I'm not sure if it's appropriate," An Xi said in a humble tone. "Please consider it."
"Alright, let's hear it."
"As you know, Yang Jihong is now pregnant. She carries a transmigrator's child, and Transmigrator Yang personally cares a great deal about her and this child. I wonder if we might adopt some approach to... work around this?"
Seeing that Majia didn't object, An Xi continued: "This is a homicide case after all, so we can't just let it go—that would make no sense. The case must be tried, otherwise we can't demonstrate the solemnity of the law. My idea is this: the victim engaged in coercion, causing the suspect to lose emotional control. This qualifies as a crime of passion, which could justify a seven-year sentence. Then, considering that she is pregnant, on humanitarian grounds we could suspend execution for two years and place her under the joint supervision of Transmigrator Yang and the Administrative Office. After a year or half a year, once the storm blows over, the Senate is bound to undertake some major operation. At that point, we arrange for Yang Jihong to perform some meritorious service, Director Wen issues a special pardon, and the whole matter is in the past."
Majia shook his head. "Xiao An, your idea is quite clever—very much in the spirit of certain people who make their living in law. But this kind of thing, throwing dirt in people's eyes, shouldn't be done casually. As the saying goes: 'Rule the realm by law, and the realm will be at peace; rule it by scheming, and hearts will be in chaos.'"
An Xi hesitated. "But this does involve a transmigrator after all."
"Yang Jihong is merely a domestic secretary. If the Arbitration Court makes an exception for her, what happens when a transmigrator's child kills someone—let's not even talk about such distant matters. The handling you describe might fool those outside the system, but it won't fool the domestic secretaries inside it. Once this precedent is set, won't future maidservants become lawless? As long as they please their transmigrator, no matter what they do, the transmigrator will cover for them. We in the Jurisprudence Society might as well all hang ourselves from the southeast branch."
An Xi was dumbstruck. He had been rather pleased with his proposal, thinking it both upheld legal dignity and looked after Yang Xinwu's interests—the best of both worlds. He never expected Majia's rebuke.
"I really didn't think the matter was this serious. I thought too simply, and my understanding of jurisprudential principles was insufficient—" An Xi was the type to immediately align with leadership, and he launched into self-criticism at once.
Majia switched to a more earnest tone: "Do you still remember the basic principles of our Jurisprudence Society? 'Laws must exist, laws must be followed, enforcement must be strict, violations must be punished.' If we ourselves treat this as empty words, how can we convince anyone? Rule of law isn't just an empty phrase."
"Yes. I was too simplistic."
"Let me tell you something from the heart of our Jurisprudence Society," Majia lowered his voice. "Your approach is indeed clever. But if we keep doing this, the ultimate result will be the Executive Committee appointing some political-legal official who can't even recite a statute to command the Arbitration Court. Since scheming matters more than law, what use are we?"
An Xi startled. "I understand now."
"Good that you understand the key points." Majia returned to a relaxed expression. "Study the drafts of the newly formulated Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law first, and see how this case should be tried: follow strict procedure and legal requirements, but keep sentencing to the minimum—don't go for the maximum."
"Understood." An Xi declared he would resolutely complete the task. He hesitated, then spoke again: "Executive Commissioner Ma, I have another thought—"
"Go ahead."
"I think we need to properly recognize the potential influence of maidservants. After my contact with Transmigrator Yang, I felt Yang Jihong has considerable influence over him. Maidservants whispering pillow talk to gain benefits is probably no longer rare. Rather than letting this become an unspoken rule, why not make it an explicit rule? We could draft a 'Maidservant and Transmigrator Relations Law' that formally specifies maidservants' rights and obligations, defines the status of children between maidservants and transmigrators, and establishes conditions and procedures for maidservants to transition to other statuses."
Majia nodded approvingly. "That's an excellent idea! Draft a proposal and bring it to the Jurisprudence Society's next regular meeting for discussion."
Ding Ding finally breathed a sigh of relief after receiving notification from the Administrative Office. Because of this damned case, Panpan had been making trouble with him for most of the month. While it hadn't reached the tragic point of banishment to the balcony, and he could come and go from the bedroom as he pleased, Panpan had directly moved into the newspaper office dormitory with a change of clothes. She declared, "Until the truth of the maidservant case is published, I won't go home." She seemed determined to make him surrender.
For the sake of family harmony, Ding Ding had called the Administrative Office many times and made several personal visits, finally obtaining their permission. Then, the case briefing arrived from Police Headquarters.
Ding Ding hurried to find Panpan, personally carrying the materials.
"There, darling, the case briefing for the Lin Xiaoya case has arrived. Now you should believe me."
Panpan had been working on this case for quite a while. Originally, she had held no hope of getting permission and had intended to obtain inside information through her personal activities—many of her predecessors in the other era had done exactly that. But she quickly discovered that private investigation had no room to operate under Lingao's system.
Very few people could access the case's core materials, and they were all transmigrators from enforcement agencies. Whether it was Mu Min, Salina, or Su Wan, all of them refused to disclose detailed case information. These three female transmigrators answered identically: without authorization from the National Police, they could not leak any information—"This is a matter of discipline."
Panpan had originally pinned her hopes on their "sense of justice," but no matter how much she emphasized the case's significance for native human rights and women's rights protection, she came away empty-handed.
Unable to obtain specific investigative materials, Panpan could only shift her attention to the naturalized citizens. She visited the crime scene and managed to interview various people who might have had contact with the case. Using her status as a "Chief," she did obtain considerable first-hand material—except from naturalized citizens serving in the enforcement departments, who, as always, "had to observe discipline" and maintained their silence.
As for the transmigrators living in the residential quarters, they were quite interested, but they knew no more than the naturalized citizens. Before the case facts were announced, most transmigrators only speculated that this was some transmigrator's domestic secretary committing suicide—clearly involving something unseemly. Though some showed unusual interest and all sorts of rumors emerged, no one guessed that the deceased was a maidservant trainee, not a domestic secretary.
With only these materials in hand, the case remained murky. Panpan had spent a week running around with nothing to show for it. Besides, so many days in the dormitory hadn't been comfortable—late at night, loneliness was hard to bear. Just as she was becoming disheartened, seeing that Ding Ding had actually brought case materials lifted her spirits instantly.
"Darling, I knew you wouldn't betray me!" She whooped with joy, leaping up and throwing her arms around Ding Ding's neck.
Ding Ding gave a few awkward chuckles. "I told you—trust the organization."
"You really didn't disappoint me." Panpan closed her eyes. Ding Ding couldn't help but kiss her, and two moist tongues immediately entwined. Having not seen each other for more than ten days, their longing had built up. The two pressed closer and closer, hands roaming everywhere. With a click of the door lock, heavy breathing and moans soon filled the entire office.
"This is the entire case?" Panpan looked over the briefing, her expression one of unsatisfied desire as she watched the gratified Ding Ding putting on his jacket.
"That's right. Just forwarded from the Administrative Office—the official report from Police Headquarters."
"Lin Xiaoya was killed by another maidservant, not a transmigrator?"
"It's all written there, isn't it? Your Chinese reading comprehension hasn't regressed, has it?"
Panpan slumped down in her seat. "I find it hard to believe. Your government has always been accustomed to controlling public opinion..."
Ding Ding wore an expression somewhere between laughter and tears. "Panpan, don't forget—you're also a member of this government."
"Oh no, what I mean is: most of the transmigrators in the Senate came from that kind of society. So I have reason to be fully skeptical of this report—unless you let me see the complete file and personally investigate these witnesses."
Ding Ding frowned—not because he thought the request would be hard to fulfill, but because he vaguely sensed some dangerous shift in Panpan's attitude.
"That's beyond my authority. If you don't plan to publish the story, go talk to Xiao Zishan."
"I certainly will. I must get to the bottom of this!" Panpan was full of confidence.
(End of Chapter)