For instance, the maximum sentence for bribery is life imprisonment, followed by a fixed-term imprisonment of ten to fifteen years. The highest cap for a single fixed-term imprisonment is fifteen years. In other words, even for murder, as long as one is not sentenced to death or life imprisonment, the maximum sentence is only fifteen years. Of course, for cumulative sentences, the calculation still follows the rules: up to twenty years for sentences totaling under thirty-five years, and up to twenty-five years for those totaling over thirty-five years. Therefore, the twenty-year fixed-term imprisonment Liu Qiao received was quite reasonable.
"Itâs worth mentioning that the opposing defense attorney..." Qin Mu continued, recounting the ordeal Zhang Kuang had faced during the trial. As a lawyer, one should know and abide by the law. Yet, Zhang Kuang had attempted to exploit legal loopholes and help the defendant escape liability through bribery.
"Here, the UP just wants to remind everyone that we should not only learn and understand the law but also abide by it. Never, for your personal desires, disregard law and justice, as in the end, it will only be self-destructive."
At the end of the video, Qin Mu added a solemn caution. He did this mainly because he had seen many "legal maniacs" emerging on the Study Law Alliance forum. These people were researching legal provisions from all sorts of strange and bizarre perspectives every day, displaying a serious tendency toward crime. Some of their questions even made him somewhat afraid.
After finishing the recording, he added relevant materials from that dayâs trial, edited them into a video, and posted it on Little Station.
ăAt eleven-thirty in the evening.ă
In a certain livestream room, Qing Lan sat lazily in front of the camera, gradually breaking down. After starting her stream, she queued for a ranked game, only to be absolutely wrecked by a random Bronze Three player.
"These moves... that must be a King-ranked player smurfing in the lower divisions!" she fumed to her viewers, her face flushed red.
However, in the livestream chat, the barrage of comments mercilessly called her out.
"Sister Lan, I hate to break it to you, but could this just be your actual skill level?"
"Iâve been watching this streamer for three years. Her skill is probably between Bronze IV and Bronze 5. It fluctuates wildly; sheâs weak against strong opponents and even weaker against weak ones."
"I just checked this guyâs record for Sister Lan. Last season he was placed in Bronze 5 and peaked at Bronze I. The only game he dominated was against our streamer; in his other games, he fed constantly."
"Sister Lan, take my advice: give up on this game. Stop tormenting your four teammates."
"..."
Qing Lan looked at the barrage of comments from her viewers, shaking with rage.
These viewers...
she thought.
Theyâre all such brutally honest guys! None of them pull any punches. They donât explicitly call me a bad player, but every comment reeks of it.
"Guys, stop flaming Sister Lan for now! The UP has uploaded a new video! The next victim has appearedâanother twenty-year fixed-term imprisonment!"
Suddenly, she spotted this comment amidst the flood of messages, and her expression brightened.
"Iâm done gaming for tonight," she announced.
Then, as if liberated, she closed the game client and opened Qin Muâs account, navigating to his latest video. She intended to âpad her streaming hoursâ legitimately by watching it.
As a streamer, she had a fixed monthly target for live hours that she had to meet. Usually, whenever she watched videos from other UPs, her viewers would criticize her for "slacking off." But when she watched Qin Muâs videos, the viewers became more obedient than anyone else. No one dared to utter any profanity. The name "Qin Mu" alone had an effect comparable to an internet cleanup!
"Friendly reminder, Sister Lan. Since youâre watching the UPâs video in public, shouldnât you first bathe, change clothes, and offer a prayer?"
"This must be the second defendant in the UPâs videos to âenjoyâ a twenty-year fixed-term imprisonment."
"Twenty years, huh? What does an ordinary person have to do to earn a sentence like that?"
"To be honest, a twenty-year sentence doesnât even faze me anymore. Iâm just waiting to see when the UP gets someone life imprisonment."
"..."
The barrage of comments poured in, with many who had already seen the video starting to drop spoilers.
Seeing these comments, Qing Lan couldnât help but gulp.
Another twenty-year fixed-term imprisonment!
she thought. Based on the legal knowledge sheâd gleaned from Qin Muâs previous videos, twenty years was a significant threshold. For cumulative sentences under thirty-five years, the maximum was twenty years of fixed-term imprisonment!
Thatâs nearly the limit an average person could reach. Such a âtalentâ... youâd be hard-pressed to find one in hundreds of thousands of people.
Curious, she played the video.
"One hundred and sixty million?!"
Not long after the video started, she gasped.
The pharmacy business... the profits are insane!
she thought.
They make way more money than I do as a streamer. Even if I streamed myself to death for a hundred years, I wouldnât make that much! All that money... it was the hard-earned cash of patients. Yet it all got funneled into pharmacies for health supplements.
A profit of 160 million yuan in six yearsâsuch an astounding sum directly resulted in a top-tier sentence.
"Sister Lan, take notes! âHigh-end ingredients often require only the simplest cooking methods.â A true talent only needs two charges to achieve a twenty-year sentence!"
"Compared to this defendant, that middle-aged couple from the UPâs previous videos was pathetic. They racked up so many charges to get their sentence."
"Twenty years of fixed-term imprisonment... most people couldnât achieve that in a lifetime."
"Speaking of which, this defendant in the UPâs video is the richest one Iâve ever seen!"