Chapter 3 : Five Disadvantages and Three Deficiencies
Chapter 3: Five Disadvantages and Three Deficiencies
“You brat, what are you running for?” A familiar voice sounded by his ear, and only then did Shen Qingzhou let out a long breath.
“Uncle Chang, can’t you be a bit gentler?” Shen Qingzhou sat back down in his chair and casually patted Xiao Qiu beside him. “Don’t be scared, just keep eating.”
Xiao Qiu had also been startled just now and had almost floated away, but she couldn’t bear to leave the still-burning incense in the ashtray. Her little hands clenched as she stood there hesitating.
Only after hearing Shen Qingzhou’s words did she slowly relax, drifting back to the edge of the table to continue absorbing the incense.
The man at the door was around fifty years old, tall and sturdy, dressed in casual clothes. His face bore traces of hardship, yet his eyes were especially sharp.
The person who came was Chang Shengli, captain of the Third Criminal Investigation Team of the Xiling Branch of Huinan City.
Shen Qingzhou had known him since he was still in the welfare institute, because many children had been sent there by him—and the children’s parents had also been sent in by him.
“Uncle Chang, got a cigarette? Give me one.”
“You brat, can’t you at least clean up your place? Look at this mess.”
Chang Shengli scolded irritably, but still pulled out a cigarette. After a moment’s thought, he tossed the remaining half-pack directly to Shen Qingzhou.
“Uncle Chang, generous.”
Shen Qingzhou took one out, lit it with satisfaction, took a deep drag, then blew out a smoke ring that drifted lazily in the air.
Beside him, Xiao Qiu watched and imitated him, taking a deep breath of incense before tilting her head back and exhaling into the air.
“Ha~ fun, right?”
Shen Qingzhou reached out and rubbed her little head again.
“There’s someone else in the room?”
Chang Shengli didn’t seem surprised at all.
“Mm, just a little girl. Uncle Chang, you came to see me—got some good news?”
As he spoke, Shen Qingzhou blew more smoke rings toward him—big rings wrapping around small ones—making Xiao Qiu’s eyes widen in amazement.
“You brat, can’t I just come visit you?” Chang Shengli said irritably.
“Oh, and you came empty-handed? People like you aren’t welcome.”
“Enough nonsense. I’ve got business with you.”
“I knew it—nothing good ever comes when you look for me.”
“A bounty of two hundred thousand.”
“Uncle Chang, you’re basically my real uncle. Sit, sit—what would you like? Tea, coffee, or a drink?”
Shen Qingzhou immediately straightened up, completely losing his lazy demeanor.
“You little punk.”
Chang Shengli couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation and sat down across from him.
Without further fuss, he said, “You’ve heard about last month’s throat-slitting case, right?”
“Of course. Heard it was a female college student—died pretty horribly. What, the killer hasn’t been caught yet?”
Crimes of such severity were usually not disclosed to the public; investigations were conducted in secret first.
So aside from people like Shen Qingzhou with connections, ordinary citizens didn’t even know about it.
“Based on our investigation, we found that this isn’t the killer’s first offense. The method is extremely similar to a case from five years ago.”
“Also a female college student?” Shen Qingzhou leaned forward slightly, interested.
“Yes. Also a female college student—and both were very pretty.”
“What a waste. I don’t even have a girlfriend, and the country won’t assign me one.” Shen Qingzhou muttered.
“You’re talking nonsense. When have you ever lacked women? If you’d just settle down and live properly, your kid would already be calling me Grandpa Chang.”
“You’ve hit the point—because I lack money. Bad women don’t want me, and good women I don’t want to drag down. Better to stay single. Right now, I just want to make money.”
“Then get moving. Sitting here, do you think money will fall from the sky?”
Hearing this, Shen Qingzhou directly extended his hand.
“What are you doing?” Chang Shengli quickly covered his pocket, looking wary. “My salary’s already handed over to your aunt. I don’t have a single cent on me—don’t expect to borrow money.”
Over the years, he had been “borrowed from” by Shen Qingzhou under various pretexts so many times that he had learned his lesson.
“I’m asking you to show me the case analysis report.” Shen Qingzhou said irritably.
“That’s not possible. It’s internal material—you’re not a police officer.”
“Then why did you come to me? To tell stories?”
“Do you want the money or not?”
“Yes.”
“This case has a severe impact. Our department is offering a two-hundred-thousand bounty. Anyone who provides useful clues leading to the capture of the killer can take the money directly…”
Although he couldn’t show internal documents, Chang Shengli still shared some of the clues the police had gathered.
Only then did Shen Qingzhou grin. “Easy enough. But I need two pieces of information.”
“Here—you’ve got them.”
Chang Shengli pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and tossed it in front of him. Clearly, he was already familiar with Shen Qingzhou’s investigative methods.
Shen Qingzhou unfolded it. Two addresses were written on it.
One was the crime scene. The other was the victim’s home address.
“Done~”
He snapped his fingers.
---
At dusk, the setting sun cast its final glow, painting the sky, buildings, and trees in a warm orange-red hue. The entire world seemed wrapped in a gentle, soft light.
But people hurried along, paying no attention to the scenery.
Walking among the crowd, Shen Qingzhou calculated that if he could complete this bounty, the children’s food expenses for a while would be secured, giving him a bit of breathing room.
Otherwise, every day when he opened his eyes, all he thought about was where to get money—it was exhausting.
Shen Qingzhou had been abandoned as a child. If not for Granny Song from the Giraffe Welfare Institute, who had picked him up from the roadside on a freezing morning when he was barely alive, feeding him rice soup bit by bit and raising him patiently, he would have long since become a corpse by the roadside.
Now, however, Granny Song was old, and the welfare institute’s funding had been cut off. It was gradually running deficits and on the verge of shutting down.
The children would be sent to government-run institutions, scattered in different places.
Shen Qingzhou didn’t want to see the institute close. It was Granny Song’s life’s work, and he didn’t want to see the younger brothers and sisters he grew up with separated.
So after graduating, he took on the responsibility of raising funds.
Of course, it wasn’t purely out of nostalgia or kindness. There was another important reason.
The unorthodox techniques he cultivated were simple and effective—but their side effects were severe: the Five Disadvantages and Three Deficiencies, none of which could be avoided.
But Shen Qingzhou, being a prodigy of the unorthodox path, was different from ordinary people. By innovating and forging his own path, he had avoided two of the five disadvantages and two of the three deficiencies.
As the saying goes, of the fifty evolutions of the Great Dao, only forty-nine are used—nothing in this world is ever complete.
Thus, this one deficiency could not be avoided, nor did he dare to avoid it—otherwise, disaster would surely follow.
And that deficiency was lack of wealth.
He was born unable to accumulate money. If he had money, misfortune would follow. Whatever he had, he had to spend—and not on himself.
So over the years, all the money he earned had gone into the welfare institute, while he lived a miserable life himself.
He had planned to pull off one big job to completely solve the institute’s problems.
Then find a rich woman, live off her, eat and drink freely, and lie flat for the rest of his life.
But now the job was done, and the money was gone—truly infuriating.
Fortunately, Chang Shengli had given him another job in time. Otherwise, he really wouldn’t know where to get money.
This wasn’t his first collaboration with Chang Shengli. Most of the funds he had raised before came from this.
“Please take a look, thank you~”
At that moment, a flyer was handed to him from the side, interrupting his thoughts.
Shen Qingzhou took it casually, thinking it was just an ordinary advertisement and preparing to throw it away. But then he realized—it was a missing person notice.
Name: Qiu Xiaoman (nickname: Xiao Qiu)
Age at disappearance: 4
Gender: Female
Height: Approx. 95 cm
Features: …
Xiao Qiu?
Shen Qingzhou was startled.
He didn’t know much about Xiao Qiu. He hadn’t brought her home himself—she had followed the dog.
Specifically, he had taken a job on a local platform to find a lost dog. When he found the dog, Xiao Qiu was beside it.
At the time, Shen Qingzhou hadn’t spoken to her, nor even given her a glance. After all, he had seen too many ghosts since childhood—ghosts were like strangers to him. Who would go around talking to strangers all day?
Then, when Xiao Qiu saw him take the dog away, she followed him all the way back home.