Hao Fei's situation was much more straightforward than Shi Lan's.
He'd been caught red-handed kidnapping someone. Under normal procedures, Hao Fei would have spent at least three to five years in prison.
But Xiao Teng hadn't pressed charges. He'd chosen to forgive him and had even spoken up on Hao Fei's behalf. With the lawyer's defense, three to five years had become three to five months.
Shi Lan's case, however, was more troublesome.
It was more complicated than Qi Pingxia had expected.
The human trafficking ring that had been apprehended led to more than a dozen other people.
And that still wasn't everyone. There were clearly others pulling the strings behind them, anonymously hiring powerful lawyers to try to reduce their sentences.
Fortunately, international law was relatively lenient when it came to stateless people. Out of humanitarian concern, the judge hadn't handed down a heavy sentence.
In the end, Shi Lan was sentenced to a year and three months, but wouldn't have to perform hard labor.
Shi Lan didn't have much resistance to the outcome.
After two court hearings, the case was swiftly closed, and Shi Lan saw Qi Pingxia again.
"I'm sorry. In the end, I still couldn't get you off completely."
"You don't have to apologize. You've already helped me a lot."
Shi Lan shook her head and thanked her.
"Don't thank me. Zhang Guang put a lot of effort into this too. Otherwise, the outcome could have been much worse."
Hearing Qi Pingxia's words, Shi Lan felt a little burdened. She'd seen the caliber of the lawyers Zhang Guang had found for her during the two hearings. A top lawyer like that couldn't come cheap.
"I've already taken care of your identification documents, and I've spoken with the court. This won't leave a criminal record on