Chapter 9: Senatorial Marriage and Inheritance Law (Part 3)

The group discussion on the “Senatorial Marriage and Inheritance Law” quickly descended into a fierce debate. Whether to establish the eldest or the most virtuous as heir, and how to technically ensure that the inheritance would conform to the senator’s own wishes while fully considering the development of the family and the “thousand-year prosperity” of the Senate, all parties engaged in lengthy arguments, citing classics and precedents.

Ma Jia stood there in a daze. His group was very close to the Great Library group, and the voice of Senator Cheng kept drifting over: “concubine mother,” “concubine,” “poisoning,” “murder,” “slander,” “patricide,” “Jingnan,” “Fourth Prince,” “Xuanwu Gate”… such words came one after another. On the other side was Wu Nanhai’s high-pitched voice: “History has proven that the Qing dynasty’s secret succession system was a very advanced inheritance system…” Ma Jia sighed with a touch of melancholy. He had known it would be like this. What everyone cared about most was their own DNA.

In the view of the Law Society members who had drafted this law, both the organizational structure and the inheritance law had major hidden dangers. He wasn’t worried about talk of “dictatorship” or the like. In the view of the Law Society members, the biggest problem of the Senate was not “dictatorship” but the “sacredness of the senators,” a premise that placed them above the nation.

As long as this “golden hoop” existed, the Senate’s system was destined to have hidden dangers. In his view, the Senate was not the worst political system, but it was one of them. Of course, the “sacredness of the senators” was the political correctness of the Senate. This article could only be amended, not fundamentally negated. Otherwise, his political future as the head of the Law Society would be over. Although it wasn’t over yet, it was precarious. The abolition of the Arbitration Court in the discussion of the organizational structure seemed to have already foreshadowed the unpopularity of their group.

“You all hate the law so much, but you don’t realize that any country that has stood for more than a hundred years has established a mature system and implemented the ‘rule of law’!” Ma Jia complained silently in his heart.

“Commissioner Ma, the discussion of the Executive Committee group is about to begin…” An Xi appeared beside him, his face somewhat panicked. With the abolition of the Arbitration Court, his position as the Director of the Arbitration Court Office would cease to exist. With his level and ability, it was clearly not enough to be a judge in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would naturally not lack for administrative chores, but his status would be much lower than before…

The new Supreme Court was far inferior to the original Arbitration Court. Even the most determined proponents of the separation of powers in the Senate would not want to see a US-style Supreme Court—where a few senators could rule on constitutionality with a few casual words. That was too undemocratic. So, it was most likely to be the TG’s high court model.

An Xi was like this, and so was he. Ma Jia looked up at the sky and sighed deeply: Those who know me say my heart is full of sorrow. Those who do not know me ask what I seek.

The group discussion of the Executive Committee had already begun. Seated here were not only the members of the Executive Committee, but also Wang Luobin, who had returned from Sanya. After Ma Jia came in, he greeted everyone and looked at the gentlemen present. Except for Zhan Gong, who was frowning, everyone else was either expressionless, as calm as a chrysanthemum, or smiling… Truly, everyone had the treacherousness of mountains and rivers in their hearts, and the depth of a fortress in their chests. Power really does train people!

When he entered, Ma Qianzhu was speaking: “…I have no opinion on the inheritance law, as long as everyone thinks it’s appropriate—the premise is to ensure the stability of the Senate, especially the stability and unity among the next generation of senators…”

Ma Jia sat down next to Wang Luobin. Wang Luobin had been in Sanya for several years, engaged in construction, swimming, and fitness every day, and had become a tanned and robust handsome man. Ma Jia knew he had just had his fourth child.

“Engineer Wang, what are your plans?” Ma Jia asked in a low voice.

“Me? I’ll just let the eldest son inherit. It saves time and effort,” Wang Luobin said. “Having a group of princes and princesses fighting over it is too annoying.”

The two were having a secret little meeting. Suddenly, a small note was passed in from outside. It was quickly passed around: You Laohu and ten other senators had just jointly proposed a motion, demanding the immediate drafting and deliberation of the “Senatorial Retirement Regulations,” which clearly required that any senator who had reached the age of sixty could, upon their own request, no longer participate in specific work, while continuing to enjoy all the treatment and rights of a senator until their death.

Si Kaide frowned. “They’re already thinking about retiring? Isn’t it too early?”

“It’s nothing…” Xiao Zishan said with a laugh. “People will get old eventually, haha… haha…”

Ma Jia glanced at everyone. Everyone knew what You Laohu and the others’ proposal meant, but no one knew how to bring it up.

Wen Desi smiled and said, “What retirement regulations? This is just Xiang Zhuang performing a sword dance. Some comrades are very dissatisfied with this inheritance law, Comrade Ma Jia.”

Ma Jia nodded. “Chairman Wen, you are right. In fact, I myself am not very satisfied with this bill. But the articles are not formulated according to my personal preferences, but also take into account the public opinion of the Senate.”

“I don’t think this public opinion is reliable,” Wen Desi said. “Regarding this article, everyone knows what’s going on. I won’t say more. To prevent a certain family from having four votes, they forget that there are some families with three votes. This in itself is unfair. Besides, we still have a few unmarried female senators in the Senate. Dugong, you have several coming in and out of your place. You’re on the verge of having three votes…”

“Chairman Wen, I must reiterate here that my relationship with the two female comrades, Du Wen and Tang Tang, is purely professional…” Ma Qianzhu said.

“Any single male senator who marries a female senator immediately becomes a two-vote family. This power is extraordinary—shouldn’t we also have a regulation prohibiting marriage between male and female senators? Otherwise, it’s unfair to the other senators who marry naturalized citizens! I have said many times that our Senate has a tendency to control everything from heaven and earth to reproductive organs. A perfectly good senator is not allowed to pass his seat on to his own grandchildren, but is forced to adopt an unrelated stranger as his heir. Who would be convinced by this? Children can have their own heirs, but old men and women are not allowed to have heirs. What kind of twisted logic is this?”

“This issue has been discussed in the past. The conclusion at that time was that elderly senators already have children, and it is not appropriate to give them another seat,” Ma Jia explained. “When we were drafting the inheritance law, the majority of senators in the Senate held this view…”

“Comrade Ma Jia, I am aware of the situation you mentioned. However, as a bill that involves the vital interests of the senators, shouldn’t we provide more choices to the senators?”

“That’s why it’s a draft,” Ma Jia said. “The senators are free to express their various views and revision suggestions. In the end, it will still be decided by a vote. I can state one thing first: my colleagues in the Law Society and I do not approve of any discriminatory policies.”

“The problem is, if we grant elderly senators the freedom of inheritance, is it unfair to other single senators?”

“No, I think we are still putting too much emphasis on the ‘family’ and forgetting that they are first and foremost senators,” Ma Qianzhu said. “We should talk less about ‘family’ and more about the ‘individual.’ After all, they are individuals as senators. Every senator has worked hard for our great cause. To suspect and restrict them just because they are members of a certain family is very undesirable. On the contrary, it will strengthen the ‘family’ concept among the senators, which is undesirable.”

Zhan Wuya also said, “Our old comrades are still very traditional in their morals. They have set a good example in the Senate. With this regulation, not to mention the female senators who no longer have the ability, the reproductive ability of males can be maintained to a very old age. Originally, they were content with their lot and enjoying their old age. With this, even if they themselves have no such intention, the younger generation will probably try their best to persuade them to get a life secretary or something… Isn’t this destroying their families!”

Si Kaide also chimed in, “If you really want to be clever, there are plenty of ways to circumvent this regulation. Besides, adopting children is not good either; it’s also a form of marriage alliance.”

“Old comrades, let’s not talk about the role of the Ming couple,” Ma Qianzhu said. “Even the ordinary elderly female senators have done a lot for our great cause. Although they are all inconspicuous things, when we were starting from scratch, they cooked, washed clothes, and cleaned for everyone. Now, many of our comrades don’t trust the natives and are suspicious of the naturalized citizens, so the elderly female senators are helping to take care of the children. For this reason alone, we should not restrict their rights… When people get old, all they want is for their descendants to have a long and prosperous future. I propose that the draft inheritance law be amended to comfort the people and also to demonstrate the principle of equality among all senators…”

No one present raised any further objections. Ma Jia asked, “What about the senatorial retirement regulations?”

“That can also be added. Retirement is also a normal part of life. But it still depends on the individual’s wishes. As long as they can still contribute, we won’t have mandatory retirement,” Wen Desi said. “We can set an age limit for administrative positions, to avoid having an eighty or ninety-year-old as an Executive Committee member. Let’s not have any of that ‘long live’ nonsense…”

The “Senatorial Marriage and Inheritance Law” was finally passed in a fairly harmonious atmosphere. The bloodline restriction on the inheritance of elderly senators’ seats was abolished, and elderly senators could adopt anyone as the heir to their seat and property. The only restriction was that the adopted child must take the senator’s own surname. As for whether the senator’s inheritance should be by primogeniture or merit, the parties could not agree, and it was finally decided that each family would decide for itself. However, a “black box” approach was adopted in terms of technical means: the senator’s choice of inheritance model (“primogeniture or merit”) and the specific list of heirs were top-secret documents, kept by the College of Arms. After the senator’s death, the General Office, under the supervision of a representative of the Senate, would retrieve the documents from the College of Arms and publicly read out the list of heirs to complete the process. If there was no specific list of heirs, this small group would select the heir according to the “inheritance principles” left behind in advance. As for the senatorial retirement regulations, they were also passed smoothly—everyone knew it was just a matter of attitude.