Chapter 1617 - Giving Gifts

The morning sun had barely climbed past the Arbitration Tribunal's eastern windows when Lu Xuan settled into the reception room, positioning himself with deliberate precision. He had arrived more than an hour early—not because protocol required it. As a Senator, he could demand an audience with any other Senator during office hours without the formality of a summons that naturalized cadres endured. No, his early arrival served another purpose entirely: timing.

From his chosen seat, Lu Xuan commanded an unobstructed view of the second floor's easternmost office—the domain of Ma Jia, that formidable trinity of titles: Executive Committee member, Director of the Arbitration Tribunal, and head of the Political Security Bureau. A row of street-facing windows offered a clear line of sight. At precisely eight o'clock, Ma Jia materialized at his desk. Moments later, An Xi, the Tribunal's General Office Director, led a procession of naturalized cadres into Ma Jia's office for what was evidently the daily morning briefing.

Lu Xuan waited. When An Xi finally emerged and returned to his own desk, Lu Xuan rose briskly and strode toward the office building.

His Senator's status carried him past every checkpoint without obstruction. He paused only briefly at An Xi's open door—the man was buried in paperwork and failed to notice him slip past.

Ma Jia's secretary, though she didn't recognize the visitor, could divine his rank from bearing alone. After examining the identification he presented, she prepared to salute, but Lu Xuan silenced her with a quick gesture. "Please announce me," he whispered. "I'd like to see Executive Ma."

No naturalized secretary dared obstruct a Senator's request for audience—an unwritten law governing all Executive Committee members. Still, she didn't usher him directly inside. "Please wait a moment." She disappeared through the inner door, and when it opened again, An Xi emerged.

"You are..." An Xi's initial confusion was understandable. Though they had served together in the Basic Labor Team years ago, considerable time had passed. The tall, imposing Senator standing before Ma Jia's office, a file tucked under one arm, stirred no immediate recognition.

But An Xi hadn't risen to Office Director through poor memory. Within a minute, the relevant fragments surfaced.

"Old Lu? What brings you here?" Clearly, Lu Xuan appeared on no schedule today. An Xi studied his former colleague—a civil servant in the old world, holder of a law degree, though one earned through distance learning, which the Law Society regarded with barely concealed disdain.

In those early days after landfall, people with legal backgrounds had generally been consigned to basic labor. That institution—little more than a concentration camp for temporary workers—had housed both An Xi and Lu Xuan for roughly a year. They'd performed countless miscellaneous tasks together. In An Xi's recollection, Lu Xuan had been unexceptional: he never complained, never avoided hardship, but neither did he stand out. Apart from burying himself in work, he rarely bragged or socialized with other Senators.

When others in the legal field gathered to discuss future jurisprudence on paper—there being little else to occupy their time—Lu Xuan never participated. He showed no interest even in listening. Over time, An Xi had concluded that beyond the ability to write the word "Law," Lu Xuan possessed nothing that touched upon legal studies. He'd stopped paying attention to the man entirely. Later, when recruiting for the Law Society, Lu Xuan—who had cultivated no connections in legal circles—was naturally forgotten. Even if someone had mentioned him, Ma Jia and the others likely would have rejected his admission: in their view, his correspondence-school credentials barely qualified as a diploma, let alone a legal education.

Lu Xuan's sudden appearance now struck An Xi as deeply peculiar.

Facing this old acquaintance without particular nostalgia, Lu Xuan appeared entirely relaxed. He stepped forward, clasped An Xi's hand, and smiled. "Director An, it's been too long. You're looking well."

"Hardly, hardly—all in service of the Senate and the people." An Xi's professional instincts engaged automatically. "You're a rare guest here. I heard you went to the Grand Library afterward, but I haven't seen you around..."

"I do policy research and data compilation at the Grand Library. I'm here today to see Executive Ma." Recognizing he couldn't bypass this gatekeeper, Lu Xuan spoke plainly. "What do you say—does Executive Ma have time?"

"Come now, we're all Senators here. Unless he's in a meeting or traveling today, there's no reason he wouldn't." An Xi's sudden enthusiasm was almost theatrical. "Come, come—I'll take you in." He seized Lu Xuan's arm and guided him into Ma Jia's office.

Ma Jia regarded the tall Senator before him with puzzlement. According to his schedule, he should have been receiving Ji Xin.

"Executive Ma, this is Senator Lu Xuan. We both served in the Basic Labor Team originally... and, well, speaking technically, he counts as part of our legal system too..."

"Legal system?" Ma Jia ran through the Law Society's membership in his mind and found no trace of Lu Xuan. Listening to An Xi's halting introduction, he pieced together a rough sketch of the man's background. What business could someone from the Grand Library possibly have with him?

Puzzled but composed, Ma Jia rose from behind his desk. "Hello, please sit." He shook Lu Xuan's hand—polite, dignified. Years as an Executive Committee member had erased every trace of the petty clerk he'd once been.

As Lu Xuan settled into his seat, Ma Jia studied him carefully. Early thirties, roughly Ma Jia's own age. Slightly bronzed complexion—odd for someone who supposedly worked at a desk. Short hair, alert eyes. He wore a locally produced cotton shirt without decoration, clean and tidy, no different from Ma Jia's own attire. But his well-proportioned frame, correct posture, and restrained smile projected unmistakable capability.

"Executive Ma, hello. I am Lu Xuan from the Grand Library Office." Through this reintroduction, Lu Xuan repositioned himself before the Executive Committee member.

Ma Jia nodded. "One doesn't visit a temple without purpose. We're all comrades in the same Senate, so please—speak."

"Some time ago, following issues that surfaced after the terrorist attack, our Grand Library launched a research project on clarifying departmental responsibilities and unifying authority with accountability. As I am currently the only Senator in the Grand Library with a legal background, I was assigned to lead this effort. I should confess: although I majored in law, my original degree came from a secondary technical school, and both my associate and bachelor degrees were obtained through part-time study. In terms of professional legal expertise, I'm at best vocational level. The undertaking has been strenuous." He paused. "Moreover, according to our Grand Library's plan, this project will be published as an issue of Policy Research and submitted to the Executive Committee. To ensure rigor and feasibility, and with the Curator's approval, I've taken the liberty of disturbing you today with the first draft of this research report. My purpose is to ask Executive Ma to coordinate and invite several experts from the Law Society to review it. This report involves many professional legal issues, and according to our vision, its final implementation will rely heavily on the Law Society's expertise."

He presented the file with both hands.

An Xi listened from the side. When he heard that the Grand Library intended to make a proposal touching on legal matters, surprise flickered across his face—such proposals had always been the Law Society's exclusive domain. What surprised him more was Lu Xuan's performance: the poised demeanor, neither servile nor arrogant, and the clear, concise delivery. An Xi had muddled through the bureaucratic system for years before crossing over; he'd seen this temperament before, in the secretaries of senior leaders from major agencies. But it bore no resemblance to the Lu Xuan he remembered.

Ma Jia nodded slightly, revealing none of the surprise Lu Xuan might have anticipated. He opened the file to find a handwritten report. The characters were evenly spaced, flowing in a single unbroken stream; not a single correction marred the text, not a single character was illegible. Setting aside the current spacetime, even in the old world, Ma Jia had rarely encountered such immaculate handwritten documents.

Clearly, this had been meticulously composed and then recopied with painstaking care.

"You've put considerable heart into this," Ma Jia observed. "It must have taken substantial effort."

"Reporting to Executive Ma face-to-face for the first time, I dared not be careless." Against Ma Jia's praise, Lu Xuan maintained a restrained politeness—perhaps even something approaching ingratiation.

"Hahaha." Ma Jia laughed. "You're too courteous. We're all comrades here—no need for such ceremony."

Ten minutes later, Ma Jia had finished reading the report's ten-plus pages. The content held no real surprises.

It was a thoroughly standard research report, divided into sections addressing the current state of departmental functions and responsibilities, existing problems, causes of those problems, and suggestions for rectification. The examples cited covered every administrative department currently established by the Senate—military organs excepted—and proved both objective and comprehensive. The problems identified were grounded in fact, truthful and fair. In the section analyzing causes, considerable space explained how such issues were endemic to all nascent regimes, representing an inevitable stage on any government's path to maturity.

In Ma Jia's judgment, the report wasn't particularly professional, let alone brilliant. Not only was the data significantly lacking, but there were numerous errors in the application of legal principles. However, Lu Xuan's fundamental reasoning was entirely correct: the Senate's administrative institutions had grown chaotic, their authority unclear, and adjustment was urgently needed.

(End of Chapter)