Wolf's Temptation (狼的爱恋) Chinese BL Translation by: 巫哲

Won't Be Coming Back Again

Won't Be Coming Back Again

Xu Bei sat on the radiator cover in front of the window sill as he polished his knife. From time to time, the sound of firecrackers going off could be heard from outside the window. The smell of gunpowder wafted in, painting a lonesome picture of a New Years' celebration.

This knife was sent over by Ping-ge early that morning and it was pretty much the same as the one Xu Bei had lost before. If there was anything that wasn't the same, it was that this one is new and there wasn't so much a dent on the blade.

Xu Bei wasn't able to get a hold of any knife polish at the moment. He was using a sewing machine grease to polish the knife. He had gone downstairs to ask the old man for some, but such a thing can only be found in an old city district still holding onto a way of life belonging to the past. Polishing the blade with sewing machine grease and some vaseline would get the job done just fine.

Because there was no handle, Xu Bei found an old thermal underlayer and tore a strip off, wrapping it around one end of the blade. He held it in his hand and brandished it around for a little while, it felt pretty nice in his hand.

The only time Xu Bei feels a sense of security is with a knife on him. Although, should he run into the same situation as yesterday, forget about him only having a knife, even if he was holding a gun he probably wouldn't have had a chance to pull it out. But overall, it is nevertheless more comforting of a thought than only carrying a lighter on him.

The little wolf has been lying quietly next to the radiator, intently watching Xu Bei polish his knife. Xu Bei held the knife in his hand and twirled it around twice before pressing it up to its nose: "Student Lang Huhu, this is your Dad's handiest weapon. Come and smell it."

The little wolf scrunched its nose and whipped its head off to the side in a sneer. It stood up without the slightest further consideration before turning its head away and walking away.

Xu Bei looked at it and clicked his tongue at its receding figure before recalling the cold light that shone from the tips of Lang Jiu's fingertips. After Lang Jiu's hand hit the ground, he didn't make any extra movements, so it wasn't possible for him to have put anything he was holding in his hand away.

But the light really looked like some kind of a tiny bit of metal, but Lang Jiu refused to say what it was, or maybe even he didn't know what it was?

Xu Bei glanced at the time and his plan was more or less ready to go.

It was an old tradition in his house to play Mahjong all throughout the night of New Year's Eve and sleep in until 11 o'clock the next day before setting off to idle around in town as a group, the timing was perfect.

This group was comprised of Xu Bei's paternal grandparents, his parents, younger brother, and seven aunts from the paternal side of his family, and eight of the aunts from the maternal side of the family. This was quite a formidable lineup.

"Ready," Xu Bei covered himself in a jacket, sliding the handle of the knife up into the sleeve of the coat, and glanced back at Lang Jiu, "Son, there are two points I want you to keep in mind today. First and foremost, no matter what happens, unless I tell you to move, you are not allowed to senselessly run about. Secondly, if I tell you to move, you need to take your speed down a notch... Don't be making it look like you're teleporting, that'll draw unnecessary attention, understand?"

"En." Lang Jiu nodded, the jacket he wouldn't put on was held in his hand.

"Put it on," Xu Bei draped the coat over his shoulders, "Repeat what I asked you to do."

Lang Jiu hesitated for a moment. This command was a bit difficult for him. After being stumped for a hot minute, he opened his mouth to speak, "Don't move, slow down."

"Not bad, progress has been made, you've even gotten into the bare bones of it," Xu Bei stretched his hand out and patted Lang Jiu's face, "Let's get going."

When he walked downstairs, Xu Bei's cell phone rang, he pulled it out and gave it a glance, Xu Ling.

Xu Bei stared at the name on the screen for a long time before finally ultimately taking a deep breath and slowly breathing it out. He pressed his finger down onto the keypad and hung the phone up.

He couldn't answer this call. He knew what Xu Ling was going to say, but this was his only chance to see the old bastard. If he gave up, he wouldn't know when the next time he could find that old bastard again was.

Xu Ling leaned against the bedroom window, listening to the busy dial tone from the phone, and threw the phone on the bed, lying with his hand resting behind his head and staring up into the ceiling, he already knew that Xu Bei wouldn't answer the phone.

There were quite a lot of people in the living room. Because his father was the eldest son, everyone gathered at his house for the New Year's Day group activities. The cheers and laughter in the other room got under his skin a bit. His mother proclaimed very loudly in the living room that several children from each family have come back this year, and everyone was here...

Are they really?

Xu Ling looked at the photo frame set on the nightstand. The two children in it were smiling very brightly. He still remembers that he was 8 years old and Xu Bei was 12 years old when the photo was taken. Back in those days, his greatest joy was senselessly tailing behind Xu Bei everywhere he went. Xu Bei was on par with a God in his heart.

This was the last time the two of them took a photo together.

At what time did Xu Bei start to come back home less and less, when did he start attending the reformatory school, when did he drop out of school, what started the rift that formed between his father, when did he stop coming home altogether... He didn't remember these things.

Xu Bei wasn't even counted as a member of their family anymore. There was no longer a room that could be called his own inside the house anymore. Even the photo on the table is only taken out when he comes home.

Xu Ling's thoughts floated far, far away.

"Xiao Ling, why are you still hiding away in your room?" Mother knocked on the door outside, "We're ready to head out, we're just waiting on you, it's rare for your dad to come back, come out quick!"

Xu Ling lazily got out of bed, opened the door, all of the commotions in the room assaulted his senses, making his head swim. His father called out to the crowd of friends and relatives in an elder brotherly fashion: "Get a move on now, head out."

Xu Ling put on his clothes as he followed the rowdy crowd of people downstairs, with his father leading at the forefront.

Xu Ling hadn't seen him for quite a long time, he still had a high-spirited look to him, but his mother's face on the other hand was a bit thin and pallid.

The Xu family's house faced the street, walking out from the first floor is Yiqian Street, a side street that is well-known for gangsters throughout the West District.

His father took the lead and stepped out of the passageway, but his steps came to a sudden halt, his body going rigid. His relatives were still cheerfully conversing amongst one another, pushing forward and squeezing by one after another, all those who pressed on through were all frozen in place.

Xu Ling, who was falling in behind at the back of the group, saw the crowd of relatives and family friends freezing in place, and immediately reacted, sure enough, something was going to go down.

Xu Bei has arrived.

Xu Bei was crouched down across the street, the zipper of his coat pulled all the way up, covering his chin, and he held a cigarette in his mouth. He appeared to be a bit lost in thought.

When he saw that old bastard leading a flock of relatives, with a light flick of his fingers the cigarette butt arced in the air and fell onto the snow.

No one said a word, not knowing what to do in this situation.

In their minds, Xu Bei is a person that doesn't exist in this family. He has already been gone for such a long time.

His appearance made everyone a little uneasy, Xu Guangrong in particular. He also didn't expect that Ban Datong would actually allow for Xu Bei to show up at Yiqian Street so leisurely.

"Why are you here?" Xu Guangrong felt a bit of fear in his heart, but he still asked with an authoritative face stretched tautly, but his voice sounded far from matching up with his imposing manner.

Xu Bei slowly got to his feet, moving off the sidewalk, and walked over to this side of the street with his right hand hanging down at his side.

After walking a few steps, a foot-long blade radiating a cold light slipped out his cuff.

"Settling the score." Xu Bei had no expression on his face, he indifferently spits out those two words.

"What the hell are you doing—" Mom was the first person to react.

"You ask him," Xu Bei looked at the man with his face already draining of color, the hand holding the knife was itching to cut straight into him. "He knows best what it is I want to do."

The muscles on Xu Guangrong's face tensed. He wanted to laugh but nothing came out. He avoided Xu Bei's slightly bitter gaze. He turned around and gave a hollow laugh towards the relatives. When they all failed to understand what he was trying to communicate, he suddenly turned around and took off running in a mad dash.

Everyone present was stunned. No one had thought Xu Guangrong would be young enough to run as quickly as he did, he moved in a flash and his feet thundered upon pounding the ground, his legs moved like an electric fan, and he was as fit and robust as a hare.

Xu Bei sneered, well aware that it would end up like this. He angled his knife around, and just when he was about to give chase, Xu Ling called out from behind him: "Xu Bei!"

He turned his head and saw Xu Ling standing at the entrance of the corridor.

The little boy had grown up, there was a tugging feeling in his heart as it suddenly softened, but he shook off this mournful feeling of loss as quickly as it came. He glanced at Xu Ling and said in a steady voice, this matter has nothing to do with you. He went in the direction Xu Guangrong was running away.

In the few seconds he hesitated, Xu Guangrong had already darted more than a dozen steps ahead as if he were an arrow. Xu Bei frowned before yelling out ahead: "Lang Jiu!"

Xu Bei actually had already forgotten where exactly he'd told Lang Jiu to wait for him and he hadn't seen a single person along the whole way. When Lang Jiu appeared from behind the trees on the side of the road, he was a little surprised. Such a big person was standing on the side of the road and he actually didn't actually notice him?

Just as surprised as him was Xu Guangrong, who was looking around while making a mad dash. He obviously hadn't seen anyone on the side of the road, this person appeared out of thin air and ran towards him right before his very own eyes, standing right before him as if it were magic.

Before Xu Guangrong had time to stop, let alone change his running path, he was forced quite unwillingly to ram headfirst into the person who suddenly appeared in front of him.

The collision made him see stars and he almost got knocked to his knees.

Xu Guangrong gnashed his teeth and cursed and without giving any consideration to give the person before him more than a passing glance, he changed directions, intending to brush past the person and continue on his mad dash.

But before he could move two steps forward, the collar of his shirt suddenly tightened, and there was a tremendous force yanking him back. His legs were still pushing ahead, but his upper body had nevertheless been dragged and thrown backward.

By the time Xu Bei caught up, Lang Jiu had already flung Xu Guangrong over to his feet by the collar.

"What're you going to do!" Xu Guangrong was a little scared, but at the same time, he was also pretty faceless. The man who was chasing him with a knife was his son. Just the fact that he had beaten him ever since he was a child would actually make him so faceless.

"Get up," Xu Bei pulled him up from the ground, shoved him against the sluice gate of a wayside store, and pressed the knife directly onto his neck. "You surprised? Did you think Ban Datong already ended me?"

"What kind of nonsense do you think you're spouting! Would I go so far as to do harm to my own son!" Xu Guangrong side-eyed the knife in Xu Bei's hand.

The family members also ran after them and when they saw this scene, they all grew panicked and shouted in broken fragments: "Xiao Bei, just what do you think you're doing! Is this any way for you to celebrate the New Year! That is your father..."

"Don't make me stab him right now," Xu Bei spoke this line coldly, looking at both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Xu Ling stood at the very back, there was no expression on his face, but in his eyes was the completely unconcealable bewilderment and pain. He looked away, the knife in his hand almost indiscernibly began shaking, "I will leave after I'm done asking."

"Just what do you want to ask?" Xu Guangrong caught onto Xu Bei's hesitation. He secretly rejoiced in his heart that Xu Ling came back home today. He lowered his voice and said to Xu Bei, "What could you say to your little brother, letting him see you like this!"

"Where is that thing of Ban Datong's?" Xu Bei exerted a little force on the blade.

Xu Guangrong immediately howled as if he had been stabbed several times over: "Are you trying to kill me, you want me dead?"

"Where is that thing of Ban Datong's?" Xu Bei ignored him and repeated himself again.

"It's not with me anymore, it's been sold off." Xu Guangrong was forced to gnash his teeth and reply in a low voice when he saw shrieking was not of any use. Xu Bei's ice-cold voice made his legs go a bit soft.

"Who did you sell it off to." Xu Bei stared right into his eyes and continued to question him.

"Lian Da Pao."

(TN: This is a person as we'll come to learn next chapter, I got kind of confused translating this name initially but this is like a street name I think? I'm imagining like 'Big Gun' Lian? )

"What about the money."

Xu Guangrong shut his mouth. The money, of course, was spent. If it weren't for the lack of money, he wouldn't have sold that thing. Even that Lian Jun severely cut the price down, it was sold to at least one-third of its true value.

"I'm asking you about money!" Xu Bei's blade pressed against his neck, and a few seconds later, a thin ribbon of blood appeared on his neck.

Feeling the stinging, Xu Guangrong threw any face he had to the wind and let out a blood-curdling shriek: "The money is gone! There wasn't much money to start with, ah— Fuck, is this how well you treat your Laozi—"

Xu Bei loosened his grip, and the knife moved away from Xu Guangrong's neck. Xu Guangrong clutched his neck and scurried back into the mass of family members, indecipherable nonsense spilling from his lips in the form of messy shouts.

"Happy New Year," Xu Bei turned his head to look at his relatives and family friends who were frozen in fear. He inserted his knife into a pile of snow on the side of the road and wiped it clean, he patted Lang Jiu who had been standing quietly beside him, "Go."

"Don't worry, I won't be coming back again anytime in the future." Upon turning around to leave, Xu Bei left those words behind.

Xu Bei felt dead tired. If it weren't for so many people being present, he would genuinely want to lean on Lang Jiu for support. The feeling of exhaustion washed over him like the tide.

He won't be coming back again, he'd thought that ever since that old bastard framed him and planted that thing on him, he would be alone just like that for the rest of his life.

"Xu Bei." Xu Ling's voice came from behind him.

Xu Bei turned his head back around.

"Happy New Year."

"Ah, Happy New Year."