Meanwhile, as Xu perceived, there was a struggle over succession rights. Ma Yin's oldest son, Ma Xizhen (), was born of his wife (whose name was not recorded in history), but his favorite son was his second son Ma Xisheng, who was born of his favorite concubine Consort Yuan. Ma Xizhen, not wanting to fight over the succession with Ma Xisheng, became a Taoist monk and retired from politics. In 929, Ma formally put Ma Xisheng, who then carried the title of deputy military governor of Wu'an and acting mayor of the capital Changsha, in charge of the Chu administration. From this point on, all matters of state were to be reported to Ma Xisheng first, before being reported to Ma Yin, and this effectively designated Ma Xisheng as Ma Yin's heir. However, Ma Xifan, who was born on the same day as (but apparently later in the day than) Ma Xisheng, resented Ma Xisheng for not even showing any sign of deferring to him. He hated Ma Xisheng and Consort Yuan from this point on.