Chapter 250: Everyone Has Their Own Agenda (Part 1)

It was already late when Ma Jia returned to his office at the Arbitration Tribunal. An Xi, the director of the tribunal’s office, was waiting for him. Although the young man was always dedicated, there wasn’t much work to do today, so he clearly had something important to say.

Seeing him return, An Xi immediately brought over the prepared tea: “Commissioner Ma, have some tea.”

“Don’t be so polite. We are all transmigrators. My position as a commissioner is only temporary. I can’t stand it if you’re always like this,” Ma Jia said with a smile.

“Not at all, not at all. You are my senior and my senior brother. It is entirely appropriate to show some respect,” An Xi said with a straight face.

An Xi and Ma Jia did indeed have graduation certificates from the same university in China, but Ma Jia’s was a law degree from the law school, while An Xi’s was a law diploma from the distance education college. If they hadn’t all become transmigrators in the new time and space, Ma Jia would not have admitted that An Xi was his alumnus, let alone his junior brother.

“Let’s not do this! Just say what you have to say,” Ma Jia said with a smile.

“Today you sent me to inform Transmigrator Yang about the case. He seemed very depressed and talked to me for a long time. I feel that this incident has hit him very hard. In addition, he was very emotional after learning that Yang Jihong was pregnant.”

Ma Jia nodded: this was expected. Although he had not had direct contact with Yang Xinwu, from the case file, it was clear that this Transmigrator Yang had considerable feelings for his life secretary.

“Regarding the trial of the Lin Xiaoya case, I have an idea. I don’t know if it’s appropriate,” An Xi said with a humble attitude. “Please consider it.”

“Alright, let’s hear it.”

“As you know, Yang Jihong is pregnant. She is carrying the child of a transmigrator, and Transmigrator Yang himself also values her and this child very much. I wonder if we can adopt some kind of plan to make an exception?”

Seeing that Ma Jia did not object, An Xi continued: “After all, this is a murder case. It’s unreasonable to just let it go, so the case must be tried, otherwise the seriousness of the law cannot be highlighted. My idea is: the victim’s coercive behavior led to the suspect’s loss of emotional control, which belongs to a crime of passion. She can be sentenced to seven years in prison. Then, considering that Popova is pregnant, out of humanitarian spirit, the sentence can be suspended for two years and she can be placed under the guardianship of Transmigrator Yang and the General Office. After a year and a half, when the storm has subsided, the Senate should have a major operation, and we can arrange for Yang Jihong to perform some meritorious service. Chairman Wen can issue a special pardon, and the matter will be over.”

Ma Jia shook his head: “Little An, your idea is very clever and captures the essence of how some people who live by the law act. But this kind of thing that throws dust in people’s eyes cannot be done casually. As the saying goes: ‘If the world is governed by law, the world will be at peace; if the world is governed by power and intrigue, people’s hearts will be in chaos.’”

An Xi hesitated: “But this involves a transmigrator.”

“Yang Jihong is just a life secretary. The Arbitration Tribunal can make an exception for her. In the future, if a transmigrator’s child kills someone, what do you say we do? Let’s not talk about things so far away. The solution you proposed can fool people outside the system, but it can’t fool the life secretaries within the system. Once this precedent is set, won’t the maids become lawless in the future? Anyway, as long as they please the transmigrators, they can do whatever they want and the transmigrators will cover for them. We at the Law Society might as well go hang ourselves.”

An Xi was dumbfounded. He had been quite pleased with his proposal, thinking that it both upheld the dignity of the law and took into account Yang Xinwu’s interests, a perfect solution. He had not expected to be refuted by Ma Jia.

“I really didn’t expect the nature of this matter to be so serious. My thinking was too simple, and my understanding of the spirit of the law was not deep enough,” An Xi, a person who always followed the leader’s position, immediately began to self-criticize.

Ma Jia changed to a more earnest tone: “Do you still remember the basic principles of our Law Society: there must be laws to follow, laws must be followed, law enforcement must be strict, and lawbreakers must be investigated. If we ourselves treat this as empty talk, how can we convince the public? Governing the country by law is not an empty phrase.”

“Yes. My thinking was too simple.”

“Let me tell you something from the heart of our Law Society,” Ma Jia lowered his voice. “Your method is indeed very clever. But if we continue to do this, the final result will be that the Executive Committee will appoint a secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission who can’t even recite the legal articles to command the Arbitration Tribunal—since power and intrigue are more important than the law, what use are we?”

An Xi was startled: “I understand.”

“It’s good that you understand the key points.” Ma Jia’s expression relaxed. “You should first study the new drafts of the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law and see how this case should be tried: strictly follow the procedures and legal provisions. The sentence can be at the lower limit, not the upper limit.”

“Good.” An Xi expressed his firm determination to complete the task. He hesitated for a moment and then spoke again: “Commissioner Ma, I have another opinion.”

“Go ahead.”

“I think we should have a correct understanding of the potential influence of the maids. After contacting Transmigrator Yang, I feel that Yang Jihong has a great influence on him. It is probably not uncommon for maids to use pillow talk to gain benefits. Instead of letting it become an unwritten rule, it is better to turn it into an explicit rule and create a Law on the Relationship between Maids and Transmigrators, which stipulates the rights and obligations of maids in written form, the positioning of the children of maids and transmigrators, and the conditions and procedures for maids to change their status.”

Ma Jia nodded in approval: “This is a very good idea! You should draft a bill for this matter and we can discuss it at the Law Society’s regular meeting.”

Ding Ding was finally relieved after receiving the notice from the General Office. Panpan had been angry with him for more than half a month because of this unfortunate case. Although it had not reached the tragedy of standing on the balcony, and he was allowed to enter the bedroom, Panpan had directly moved into the newspaper’s dormitory with her change of clothes, declaring that “the truth of the maid case will not be reported for a day, and I will not go home for a day.” It seemed she was determined to make him surrender.

For the sake of family harmony, Ding Ding had made many calls to the General Office and had even gone there in person several times, finally getting the permission of the General Office. Then, a case briefing was sent from the police headquarters.

Ding Ding quickly took the materials to find Panpan.

“Alright, my dear, the case briefing for the Lin Xiaoya case has arrived. You should believe me now.”

Panpan had been busy with this case for a while. Originally, she had no hope of getting permission and had hoped to get inside information through her private activities. Many of her predecessors in the old world had done so. But she soon found that under the Lingao system, private investigation had no room to play.

There were very few people who could access the core materials of the case, and they were all transmigrators from the powerful organs. Whether it was Mu Min, Salina, or Su Wan, they all refused to disclose the details of the case. These three female transmigrators all answered in the same way that they could not leak any information before getting permission from the National Police, “This is a matter of discipline.”

Panpan had originally pinned her hopes on their “sense of justice,” but no matter how she emphasized the importance of this case for the protection of indigenous human rights and women’s rights, she still got nothing.

Since she could not get specific investigation materials, Panpan could only turn her attention to the naturalized citizens. She visited the crime scene and tried to interview various people who might have been in contact with the case. Using her “Chief” status, she did get a lot of first-hand materials—except for the naturalized citizens serving in the powerful departments, who, as usual, “had to abide by discipline” and remained silent.

As for the transmigrators living in the residential area, they were quite interested, but they knew no more than the naturalized citizens. Before the details of the case were announced, most transmigrators just guessed that it was a suicide of a life secretary of a certain transmigrator. Obviously, there were some unspeakable things involved. Although some people showed unusual interest in this, and various roadside news came out, no one guessed that the deceased was a maid student, not a life secretary.

With only these materials on hand, the case was still unclear. Panpan ran around for a week and got nothing. Moreover, the dormitory life for so many days was not comfortable, and it was even more lonely and unbearable late at night. Just as she was discouraged, she saw that Ding Ding had actually brought the case materials, and she couldn’t help but be overjoyed.

“My dear, I knew you wouldn’t betray me!” she cheered and jumped up, hugging Ding Ding’s neck.

Ding Ding chuckled dryly: “I told you, you have to trust the organization.”

“You really didn’t disappoint me.” Panpan’s eyes closed, and Ding Ding couldn’t help but kiss her. The two wet tongues immediately intertwined. The two had not seen each other for more than ten days, and the man was lonely and the woman was resentful. The two embraced tighter and tighter, their hands roaming.

With a click of the door lock, heavy panting and moans immediately filled the entire office.

“Is this the whole case?” Panpan looked at Ding Ding, who was putting on his coat with a satisfied expression, with a look of dissatisfaction.

“That’s right. It was just forwarded from the General Office. It’s the official report from the police headquarters.”

“Lin Xiaoya was killed by another maid, not a transmigrator?”

“Isn’t it all written there? Has your Chinese reading level regressed?”

Panpan sat down with a plop: “I don’t quite believe it. Your government has always been accustomed to controlling public opinion…”

Ding Ding had a look of being at a loss whether to cry or laugh: “Panpan, don’t forget that you are also a member of this government.”

“Oh, no, I mean: most of the people in the Senate come from such a society. So I have reason to have full suspicion of this report, unless I can see the case file and personally investigate these witnesses.”

Ding Ding frowned, not because he felt this request was difficult to achieve, but because he vaguely felt that Panpan’s attitude seemed to have undergone some dangerous change.

“This is not within my authority. If you don’t plan to publish it, then talk to Xiao Zishan.”

“Of course I’m going. I must get to the bottom of this!” Panpan was full of confidence.