Chapter 1461 - The Great Ming Code
She noticed his gaze falling on the long hair casually draped over her shoulder, occasionally stealing glances at the thighs visible above her knee-length skirt. She couldn't help but smile knowingly.
"I'm sorry to trouble you by having you come all this way. But I really can't get away from here." Cheng Yongxin smiled broadly.
"I come here often anyway," Ji Xin said. "What exactly did you want to see me about?"
"You're certainly direct." Cheng Yongxin absently twisted the hair tips scattered on her shoulder. "I just wanted to ask: about the matter of serving as Yang Jihong's attorney—how are your considerations going?"
"If that's what you're asking about, I've already decided to accept—though of course, the specifics still depend on the Arbitration Court's arrangements."
"I know. You've always respected leadership's decisions." There was a faint note of sarcasm in Cheng Yongxin's tone.
Ji Xin felt somewhat uneasy. He could tell from her words that she harbored some kind of intention, but he couldn't figure out what. Facing her deliberately provocative remarks, he decided not to engage.
"The Arbitration Court's decision is just a formality. I'm basically certain to defend Yang Jihong. Is there anything else?"
Cheng Yongxin sipped her red tea and, as if finding it not sweet enough, dropped another sugar cube in and stirred.
"Oh, then there's nothing else. If you're busy, you can go now."
Facing Ji Xin's bewilderment, Cheng Yongxin continued absently stirring her tea.
She was waiting for him to react. She had rehearsed this in her mind multiple times—a verbal sparring match, ultimately leaving her opponent speechless. Her plan fell flat. This sort of frustration from winding up only to strike air was enough to cause internal injury.
Swallowing the spittle that lands on one's face! The phrase drifted through Cheng Yongxin's mind. She had no choice but to add:
"I mean, if you already have complete confidence in a not-guilty defense, then you can go."
"A not-guilty defense?" Ji Xin had already risen to leave but was hooked again by this remark. He had pored over the case files and various legal texts for a long time: it was impossible to mount a "not guilty" defense for Yang Jihong. He could only work the angle of the crime being "committed with cause."
"Oh?"
"I know you're a legal professional and have certainly developed your own complete defense strategy for this case. But please also hear out my amateur approach, won't you?"
"I'm all ears." Ji Xin nodded.
"Regarding this case, we've all overlooked a very crucial circumstance—the identities of the deceased and the suspect. Both are maidservants—or 'domestic secretaries' as you prefer to call them. When these girls came to Lingao, they all signed death-contracts. Unlike ordinary contract slaves who can gain freedom when their service period expires, they've even been denied any possibility of redemption—only their masters have the right to grant them freedom. Am I correct?"
"That's right."
"So they're actually slaves in the truest sense of the word."
"Yes."
"I recall that among the laws promulgated by the Senate—whether already in force or still in draft form for discussion—none have provisions for slaveholding. So in practice, this system currently follows the provisions of the Great Ming Code."
"You could understand it that way. In practice, this kind of judicial application is problematic—it's a de facto 'dual-track system' for a specific period, with many internal contradictions that make implementation quite awkward."
"You're absolutely right. But I don't want to discuss that now. There's one point I've never been clear on: whose slaves are they exactly—the Senate's or individual transmigrators'?"
"Before a transmigrator purchases them, they belong to the Senate. After a transmigrator purchases them, all rights transfer to the individual transmigrator. You also have a maidservant; you should have seen the transfer contract in her file."
"I have no interest in studying how to oppress others." Cheng Yongxin picked up a pastry, examined it elegantly, then placed it in her mouth.
"So the problem arises. In fact, both Lin Xiaoya and Yang Jihong are bondservants under the Great Ming Code system. Any trial should follow the Great Ming Code. Can killing a slave be handled as murder? If so, those transmigrators in Sanya would need to be strung up from every telegraph pole from Sanya all the way to Lingao, and it still wouldn't be enough. So this case has been wrongly framed from the start. This is a property damage case: Transmigrator Yang's personal property Yang Jihong damaged the Senate's public property Lin Xiaoya. The one who needs to bear legal responsibility is Yang Jihong's owner—Yang Xinwu. Yang Jihong herself has nothing to do with it—she's merely an object, or rather, a horse, a dog."
An expression of disbelief appeared on Ji Xin's face. Cheng Yongxin secretly celebrated and continued:
"Transmigrator Yang's compensation responsibility for damaging Senate property: the deceased's price, plus training costs over these years. As for the maidservant, since she has no personal rights—she's not even considered a person—she naturally has no right to bear criminal responsibility either. She should be handed over to her master for strict supervision and punishment. As for whether Transmigrator Yang spanks Yang Jihong's bottom or makes her stand in the corner—that's entirely at his discretion."
"You're saying Yang Jihong kills Lin Xiaoya, and Yang Xinwu compensates the Senate for a horse?"
"Precisely so."
"That doesn't seem proper."
"Isn't this the system the great Senate established with its own hands?" Cheng Yongxin smiled lazily. "Of course, if we did this, the Arbitration Court and National Police wouldn't be able to justify themselves. They'd certainly object, and our Queen Du would have to launch a major criticism campaign. So I have a second plan. While it can't make Yang Jihong innocent, it can at least get her a few fewer years in prison."
"Please tell me."
"If Transmigrator Yang states during the court hearing that three months ago, he had already intended to remove Yang Jihong from the slave registers and formally marry her as his wife, but various tasks in the education sector were piling up recently, so the paperwork was delayed. However, under the principle of de facto marriage, Yang Jihong should be considered his wife—even if the Arbitration Court doesn't recognize it, the point that Yang Jihong is a free citizen is beyond question. As for lack of proof, we can have other transmigrators provide testimony—I believe many transmigrators would be willing to extend this small favor."
Ji Xin's brow furrowed. He silently sipped his tea.
"So the case transforms again: it becomes a case of a naturalized citizen killing a Senate slave. This way, the previous work by the police and courts isn't wasted—it's still a homicide case. But the verdict will be different: according to the Great Ming Code, when a person of higher status kills a person of lower status, there's a sentence reduction. A slave threatening a commoner, and the commoner accidentally killing the slave in retaliation—that's counted as homicide but with halved responsibility. If this case is sentenced at the minimum of seven years, then it should be halved to three and a half years. And since the suspect is pregnant, she can be given a suspended sentence of two or three years. With luck, she could be out after just six months in prison."
Having said all this in one breath, Cheng Yongxin remained calm and composed, elegantly raising her teacup for a sip.
Ji Xin had maintained a listening posture throughout without interrupting. Only now did he speak:
"I have a question."
"Please ask."
"Have you read the Great Ming Code?"
Cheng Yongxin's hand trembled slightly. "I should think there are few in the entire Senate qualified to question my classical Chinese proficiency."
Ji Xin said calmly: "I think you definitely haven't read the Great Ming Code, nor the Great Proclamation, nor The Great Ming Code with Collected Commentaries and Appended Precedents, or similar works. You haven't even read master's-level research papers on Ming dynasty law."
Cheng Yongxin's face went white. She raised her cup and tilted it sharply, immediately scalding her tongue and nearly losing her grip on the cup.
Ji Xin continued: "The approach you've proposed is indeed interesting. However, from a jurisprudential standpoint, it's untenable. Following your 'bondservants mutually fighting and killing' or 'commoner killing another's bondservant' logic, the Great Ming Code stipulates the following:
"'All those who kill in an affray, regardless of whether by hand, foot, other object, or blade, shall be strangled. Those who commit premeditated murder shall be beheaded.'
"Killing in an affray, whether using hands and feet, swords, or other tools, is punished by strangulation. Premeditated murder is punished by decapitation.
"'All bondservants who strike a commoner shall receive one degree more severe punishment than a commoner would.'
"The 'commoner' referred to here means unrelated civilians.
"'A commoner who wounds another's bondservant shall receive one degree less severe punishment than a commoner would; if death results, or in cases of premeditated killing, strangulation applies. If bondservants mutually wound or kill each other, each shall be judged according to the laws for affrays between commoners. Those who encroach on each other's property shall not be subject to this statute.'
"'When bondservant fights bondservant, both being of base status, whether involving striking, wounding, or killing with a blade, each shall be judged according to the laws for affrays.'
"In other words: affrays and homicides between bondservants have nothing to do with their property owners. It's the bondservants themselves who bear legal responsibility.
"'If a commoner or bondservant encroaches on the other's property, such as in cases of theft, robbery, fraud, false claims, swindling, abduction, intimidation, or extortion, and killing or wounding results therefrom, this statute of adding or reducing degrees shall not apply. That is, if a bondservant, because a commoner has encroached on their property, strikes and wounds them, the increased degree shall not apply; if death results, strangulation applies in either case. If a commoner, having encroached on a bondservant's property, in turn strikes them, the reduced degree shall not apply; if premeditated killing occurs, decapitation applies.'
"A commoner who wounds a bondservant receives one degree less punishment than for wounding another commoner—but only one degree less, not the halving you mentioned. A caning of one hundred reduced by one degree is ninety strokes; decapitation reduced by one degree is strangulation—that's all. If a commoner kills or premeditates killing another's bondservant, there's no reduction—the punishments are strangulation and decapitation respectively.
"The Great Ming Code only stipulates that a master and their close relatives need not pay with their lives for killing a bondservant. But a commoner killing someone else's bondservant still requires paying with one's life.
"The Great Ming Code even stipulates that if the cause of the affray was the commoner first harming the bondservant, then the statute of adding or reducing degrees does not apply—meaning it's treated as an affray between commoners."
Ji Xin recited and explained, laying out the legal responsibilities of commoners and bondservants cleanly and decisively. Cheng Yongxin still held her cup in her hand, unable to say a word.
(End of Chapter)