Chapter 260: The Great Ming Code

She noticed that his eyes fell on her long hair that had casually fallen on her shoulder, and he would secretly glance at the part of her thigh above her exposed knee from time to time. She couldn’t help but smile knowingly.

“I’m so sorry to have troubled you to come here today,” Cheng Yongxin said with a smile. “But I’m really too busy to get away.”

“I come here often,” Ji Xin said. “What did you specifically ask me to come here for?”

“You’re quite direct,” Cheng Yongxin said casually, twisting the ends of her hair that were scattered on her shoulder. “I just wanted to ask: what have you considered about my previous request for you to be Yang Jihong’s lawyer?”

“If that’s what you’re asking, I’ve already decided to accept—of course, it still depends on the arrangements of the Arbitration Tribunal.”

“I know that. You always respect the decisions of your leaders,” Cheng Yongxin said with a hint of sarcasm.

Ji Xin felt a little uneasy. He knew from her words that she must have some intention, but he couldn’t figure it out. He decided to avoid her deliberately provocative words.

“The decision of the Arbitration Tribunal is just a procedure. Basically, I will definitely defend Yang Jihong. Is there anything else?”

Cheng Yongxin took a sip of her black tea, seemed to think it wasn’t sweet enough, and dropped another sugar cube in to stir.

“Oh, then there’s nothing else. If you’re busy, you can go.”

Facing Ji Xin’s astonishment, Cheng Yongxin still casually stirred her tea.

She was waiting for him to react, but there was no anger on Ji Xin’s face, and he was about to get up. The plan she had rehearsed many times in her mind, a verbal battle that would ultimately refute the other party speechless, had suddenly come to nothing. This feeling of building up strength for a long time only to hit empty air was so frustrating that it almost made one vomit blood.

To be spat on and let it dry! A sentence floated through Cheng Yongxin’s mind. She had no choice but to add:

“I mean, if you are already completely confident in a not-guilty defense, you can go.”

“A not-guilty defense?” Ji Xin had already stood up to leave, but her words had scratched an itch. He had studied the case file and various legal texts for a long time: it was impossible to make a “not-guilty” defense for Yang Jihong. He could only argue from the perspective that the crime was “for a reason.”

“Oh?”

“I know you are a legal professional and must have your own complete defense strategy for this case. However, please also listen to my layman’s thoughts, okay?”

“I’m all ears,” Ji Xin nodded.

“Regarding this case, we have all overlooked a very crucial situation, which is the identity of the deceased and the suspect. Both are life secretaries or, as you like to call them, ‘maids.’ When these girls came to Lingao, they all signed absolute contracts. Not only can they not gain freedom after their service period like ordinary contract slaves, but any possibility of redemption is even denied. Only their masters have the right to give them freedom. Am I right?”

“That’s right.”

“So they are actually slaves in the true sense of the word.”

“Yes.”

“I remember that the laws promulgated by the Senate, whether they have been officially implemented or are still in draft discussion, do not have provisions for slavery. So in fact, this system currently follows the provisions of the Great Ming Code.”

“It can be understood this way. In fact, this kind of judicial practice is problematic. It is a ‘dual-track system’ in a disguised form within a specific period, with many self-contradictory places, and it is very awkward in practice.”

“You are absolutely right. But now I don’t want to discuss these. There is one thing I have never figured out. Whose slaves are they, the Senate’s or the individual transmigrators’?”

“Before a transmigrator buys them, they belong to the Senate. After a transmigrator buys them, all rights are transferred to the individual transmigrator. You also have a life secretary. You should have seen the transfer contract in her file bag.”

“I have no interest in studying how to oppress others,” Cheng Yongxin picked up a pastry, elegantly examined it, and then put it in her mouth.

“So, the problem arises. In fact, Lin Xiaoya and Yang Jihong are both slaves under the Great Ming Code system. The trial should also be conducted according to the Great Ming Code. Can killing a slave be treated as murder? If so, the few transmigrators in Sanya would not be enough to be hanged on all the telephone poles from Sanya to Lingao. So, this case was positioned incorrectly from the beginning. This is a property damage case: Transmigrator Yang’s private 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, and it has nothing to do with Yang Jihong herself. She is just a thing, or rather, a horse, a dog.”

An expression of disbelief appeared on Ji Xin’s face. Cheng Yongxin was secretly pleased and continued:

“Transmigrator Yang’s liability for damaging the Senate’s property: the price of the deceased, the training costs over the years. As for the maid, since she has no personal rights and is not considered a person, she naturally has no right to bear criminal responsibility. 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, it’s up to him.”

“You mean, Yang Jihong killed Lin Xiaoya, and Yang Xinwu compensates the Senate with a horse?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s not appropriate.”

“Isn’t this the system established by the great Senate itself?” Cheng Yongxin smiled lazily. “Of course, if we do this, the Arbitration Tribunal and the National Police will not be able to explain themselves. They will definitely jump up. Our Queen Du will also have to start a major struggle session. So I have a second plan. Although it can’t make Yang Jihong innocent, it can at least reduce her prison sentence by a few years.”

“Please tell me.”

“If Transmigrator Yang proposes to the Senate during the court interrogation that he intended to free Yang Jihong from her contract three months ago and was preparing to officially marry her as his wife, but the various procedures were postponed due to the recent heavy tasks of the education department. But according to the principle of de facto marriage, Yang Jihong should be considered his wife. Even if the Arbitration Tribunal does not recognize it, there is no doubt that Yang Jihong is a free person. As for the lack of oral evidence, he can ask other transmigrators to give testimony. I believe many transmigrators are willing to do this favor.”

Ji Xin’s brow furrowed. He silently drank a sip of tea.

“So this case has changed again: it has become a case of a naturalized citizen killing a Senate slave. In this way, the previous work of the police and the court will not be in vain. The case is still a murder case. But the trial result is different: according to the Great Ming Code, a person of higher status who kills a person of lower status has a reduced sentence. A slave threatens a commoner, and the commoner kills the slave in self-defense. It is considered murder but with half the responsibility. This case is sentenced at the lower limit of seven years, so it should be reduced by half to three and a half years. And because the suspect is pregnant, she can be given a suspended sentence of two or three years. With good luck, she might be out after half a year in prison.”

After saying all this in one breath, Cheng Yongxin was still calm and composed, and she gracefully picked up her teacup and took a sip.

Ji Xin had been listening attentively while she was speaking and had not interrupted. At this time, he finally spoke:

“I have a question.”

“Please speak.”

“Have you read the Great Ming Code?”

Cheng Yongxin’s hand trembled slightly: “I think there are not many people in the entire Senate who can question my classical Chinese skills.”

Ji Xin said calmly, “I think you have definitely not read the Great Ming Code, nor have you read books like the Great Pronouncements or the Collected Explanations of the Great Ming Code with Appended Cases, or even master’s-level papers on the law of the Ming Dynasty.”

Cheng Yongxin’s face turned pale. The cup she was holding suddenly tilted, and she immediately burned her tongue, almost unable to hold the cup steady.

Ji Xin continued, “The ideas you proposed are indeed very interesting. But legally speaking, they are not feasible. According to your ideas of ‘slaves fighting and killing each other’ or ‘a good person killing a slave,’ the Great Ming Code stipulates as follows:

“Anyone who kills in a fight, regardless of whether it is with hands and feet, other objects, or metal blades, shall be strangled. Those who kill with intent shall be beheaded.

“Killing in a fight, whether with hands and feet, knives and swords, or other tools, is punishable by strangulation. Premeditated murder is punishable by beheading.

“A slave who assaults a good person shall be punished one degree more severely than an ordinary person.

“The ‘ordinary person’ here refers to commoners who have no relationship with each other.

“A good person who injures another’s slave shall be punished one degree less severely than an ordinary person; if the slave dies, or is killed with intent, the punishment is strangulation. If slaves injure or kill each other, they shall be punished according to the law for ordinary fights and killings. This law does not apply to those who infringe on each other’s property.

“When slaves fight with each other, they are both of low status. Therefore, whether they assault, injure, kill with a blade, or kill, they shall be judged according to the law for fighting.

“That is to say: in fights and murders between slaves, it has nothing to do with the property owner. It is the slave himself who bears the legal responsibility.

“If a good person and a slave infringe on each other’s property, such as theft, robbery, fraud, impersonation, deception, abduction, extortion, or solicitation, and thus cause injury or death, this law of increase or decrease does not apply. This means that if a slave injures a good person because the good person has infringed on his property, the punishment is not increased, and if the good person dies, both are strangled; if the good person, because he has infringed on the slave’s property, in turn assaults the slave, the punishment is not reduced, and if he kills with intent, he is also beheaded.

“A commoner who injures a slave is punished one degree less severely than a commoner who injures a commoner, and it is only one degree lighter, not half as you said. A hundred strokes of the cane reduced by one degree is ninety strokes, and beheading reduced by one degree is strangulation, and so on. If a commoner beats a slave to death, or intentionally kills a slave, the punishment is not reduced. The punishments are strangulation and beheading, respectively.

“The Great Ming Code only stipulates that a master and his close relatives do not have to pay with their lives for killing a slave, but a commoner who kills another’s slave still has to pay with his life.

“The Great Ming Code even stipulates that if the cause of the fight is that the commoner first infringed on the slave, then the law of increase and decrease does not apply, that is, it is treated as a fight between commoners.”

Ji Xin recited and explained, clearly and concisely explaining the legal responsibilities of good people and slaves in such cases. Cheng Yongxin still held the cup in her hand, unable to say a word.