Chapter 257: Everyone Has Their Own Agenda (Part 8)

After returning from the teahouse, Ji Xin felt that this matter was very strange. Since he started the “Native Protection Association,” he had become a “weirdo” whom all the transmigrators avoided. Except for the people from the Law Society who occasionally invited him to meetings because of their profession, he had become a person with almost no social activities or private contacts. This, on the contrary, made him feel that he could act freely without having to worry about anyone’s feelings.

Recently, however, three people he had not known before had come to him, asking him to defend the Yang Jihong case.

Besides Yang Xinwu, the other two were complete outsiders. Even Ji Xin, the ultimate soy sauce transmigrator who was indifferent to worldly affairs, knew that this was not simple.

However, he still took the case. In his view, no matter what their purpose was, since providing a defense lawyer was a legal procedure stipulated in the Draft of the Criminal Appeal Law compiled by the Arbitration Tribunal, someone had to do it. It was better for him to do it than to hand it over to a half-hearted Law Society transmigrator who was just going through the motions. At least he would do his best.

Ji Xin usually did not live in the transmigrator residential area, but in a single dormitory in a quiet corner of the Fangcaodi Education Park. It was difficult for ordinary people to find. He lived a reclusive life here, without even a maid. He ate directly in the cafeteria. The General Office had hired a part-time maid for him, who came to clean his room once a day and change his clothes and bedsheets.

Opening the door, the room had a cold smell. The room was not large, with a single bed, a simple board bookshelf against the wall, and an iron safe, which was a standard configuration for all transmigrator residences and offices. By the window was a desk, on which, besides a picture frame, were piles of books and documents, almost drowning the entire desk.

Most of the materials on the desk were related to the Lin Xiaoya case. The legal documents transferred included all the investigation materials of the National Police on this case, as well as the minutes of several meetings of the Law Society, the views and discussions of several key members of the Law Society on this matter distributed in the form of internal memorandums of the Arbitration Tribunal, and various legal texts: not only the laws of China in the old time and space, but also the legal texts of the United States, Germany, Japan, and Taiwan. Of course, there was no lack of the Great Ming Code, Great Pronouncements, and related research papers and monographs published by the Great Library in both classical Chinese and vernacular.

Ji Xin opened the window and poured the overnight tea from the teacup on the desk outside. His eyes swept across the desktop and he suddenly froze: someone had been in his room!

Given the simplicity of his room, it was impossible to tell if anyone had been in. But his desk, which seemed chaotic, was actually arranged in a regular way. Now, there were obvious signs of movement, and the picture frame on his desk had been moved, as if someone had picked it up to look at it.

The room had a locally made padlock. He didn’t feel that the lock had been broken when he opened the door just now. Besides him, the security department of Fangcaodi and his part-time maid both had keys and could open the door at any time. However, the key in the administrative department was a backup and was generally not used; and the part-time maid knew his request and never touched the things on his desk when cleaning the room.

There was nothing important in this room—besides bedding, there were some changes of clothes and books published by the Great Library. Valuable and important personal items were either in the dormitory in the transmigrator residential area or in the storage of the General Office.

As for classified documents and materials, they were supposed to be locked in the safe. The Political Security Bureau and the General Office would often organize surprise inspections. The IDs of those who violated the Secrecy Regulations would be “publicly displayed” on the internal BBS and would also be named in the Enlightenment Star magazine.

Although the things on the desk involved materials from the old time and space, they were all things that had been deleted and re-edited by the Office of Truth. Even if a native saw them, it would not be a big deal.

Who was it, for what, and how did they get into his room?

“One Lin Xiaoya is dead, and one Yang Jihong is arrested. It seems that Yang Xinwu is not the only one who is anxious.”

As Ji Xin was pondering, the PHS phone in his drawer suddenly rang. This was a rare thing. His PHS was rarely called. Sometimes, no one would call for a month or two.

“Is this Mr. Ji?” A charming female voice came from the phone. The slightly coquettish voice immediately reminded him of who this person was.

“You are—”

“Yes, you have good ears. I am Cheng Yongxin,” a giggle came from the phone. “Is Mr. Ji free recently?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“If it’s convenient, let’s have tea at the Great Library tomorrow. I will sweep the flowers and wait.”

“Is it still about the Yang Jihong case?”

“Look at you. Besides the Yang Jihong case, is there nothing else we can talk about? I will also introduce you to a new friend. I think you will find it a worthwhile trip.”

Ji Xin’s curiosity was immediately aroused: what were these people up to? He decided to go and see. As for this case of breaking and entering, he decided not to report it for the time being and see how the situation developed.

“Cheng Cheng baby, do you really think this is appropriate?” Panpan asked in Cheng Yongxin’s office.

Panpan’s friendship with Cheng Yongxin had been heating up these days, and they had entered the stage of being clingy—in terms of best friends, there was no difference between China and foreign countries. Although Panpan had moved back to the dormitory, she gradually began to stay out at night. She often spent the night at Cheng Yongxin’s dormitory, and the two of them would drink and talk all night. Ding Ding was helpless about this. Panpan began to become “dramatic.” The once cheerful, neat, generous, and happy American girl who had attracted him had become sarcastic and full of complaints. They even began to be unable to communicate. Although the two still had frequent sexual relations, the beautiful time of talking about life, ideals, and art under the starry sky all night had become a thing of the past.

“Why is it not appropriate?” Cheng Yongxin asked back.

“This is a personal insult to Yang Jihong, to the deceased Lin Xiaoya, and to those maids. It completely denies their personality.”

“It’s not me who completely denies their personality, it’s the glorious, great, and correct Senate,” Cheng Yongxin sneered. “These absolute contracts, the maid system, and the slave trade are all policies formulated by the Senate. We are just exploiting their loopholes.”

“As a woman, it’s ironic enough to save a woman by demeaning women’s rights.”

“Haha, that’s the effect I want. The contrast. In the past, female transmigrators did not realize how low their gender status was. They were just immersed in the psychological illusion of ‘I am also a transmigrator.’ Many people probably have already tacitly accepted that they are the ‘second sex,’ but this case will remind them what the second sex means.”

Panpan was thoughtful.

“Panpan baby, your political sense is too low. Think about it, once this defense of ours is thrown out in court, what will be the result?”

“Then Yang will definitely be able to get out of it. She just has to have her master pay a sum of money to the General Office. She won’t even have to bear the charge of murder.”

“Bingo! And then?”

“And then?” A look of confusion appeared on Panpan’s face.

“Unless the people from the Law Society are prepared to slap their own faces and deny the ‘rule of law’ that they trumpet all day long, they will have to accept it and follow my plan. However, the Senate will be very lively afterwards: Transmigrator Yang, who is determined to save his maid, and a group of transmigrators who attach great importance to the super-citizen status of the transmigrators will celebrate, while the Law Society will definitely have a strong backlash. As for the female transmigrators, without Du Wen jumping up and down, feeling sad for the death of a fellow creature, Yang Jihong and Lin Xiaoya, although they are natives, are still women. What do you think they will think?”

Cheng Yongxin said coldly, “Yang Jihong and Lin Xiaoya are both victims of the maid system created under male chauvinism. A complete tragedy! The most terrible thing is, since a female native can be sacrificed today, why can’t a female transmigrator be sacrificed tomorrow? Speaking of which, Liu San’s wife has already been sacrificed. Who still remembers who Dr. Liu, the divine doctor’s, ex-wife was?”

“They will unite and make their voices heard, instead of continuing to be silent and turn a blind eye to the men’s willfulness!” Panpan was excited by the provocation.

“Yes, the female transmigrators want to make their voices heard. What about the Law Society, what about the others, especially the marginal transmigrators who have nothing but their votes? They see their own situation in that Transmigrator Yang. Everyone will realize that he needs to speak loudly and fight for his rights. Especially those female transmigrators and marginal transmigrators who have almost no resources will be more urgent. Where to speak? That internal message board that almost no one cares about? The general meeting that is only held once a year? Most transmigrators are not members of the Standing Committee. Where can they speak and be heard by most transmigrators?”

“Newspapers, media.”

“Panpan baby, you finally have this awareness.” Cheng Yongxin opened the Kvass, tilted it slightly, and took a big gulp.

“I think you are also very clear that in this system, you are a trouble that has been deliberately downplayed.”

Her voice was very gentle and clear, but the content was cold and ruthless.

“You have to be glad that modern education is quite successful: although the Executive Committee finds you annoying for jumping up and down, they will definitely not touch this fig leaf of yours, otherwise they will not be able to explain to those soy sauce transmigrators who have not yet successfully transformed their roles. They hope that the soy sauce transmigrators will believe that the lack of freedom of speech is not because the Executive Committee does not want freedom of speech, but because it is forced by the situation.”

Facing the ashen-faced Panpan, Cheng Yongxin was very calm.