Anti-tracking is a Life Skill
Xu Bei got up very early.
He really didn't want to get up so early, even if he fixed a plan to leave today last night, he still should not have to get up when the frost on the window has yet to be melted by the sun. He hasn't had to get up so early ever since he graduated from primary school.
He was awakened by his arms aching. In the middle of the night, he and the little wolf had embraced as they slept together in a codependent position and haven't moved up until this point. His arm was pressed down to the point of being both sore and swollen.
"When we go out in a bit, we must find a food market to weigh your body weight," Xu Bei pushed the little wolf out of the quilt. "Get out, you've broken your Dad's arm."
The little wolf hopped down the bed and shook out its fur. Its forelegs were stretched taut and it's hind legs were also drawn tightly as it stuck up its rear in a stretch. After that, it opened the back door with its snout and jumped onto the backyard wall. Its tiny paws turned to go to the front yard.
"Fellow student Lang Huhu, I told you," Xu Bei opened the door and looked at the little wolf who was earnestly gnawing on the wooden post fence in the front yard. "We will be going out in a while, I can't find anything to leash you, be well-behaved and follow right after me. Don't scare people, do you understand? Samoyeds can't grow out to be such a large size like yours, a big polar bear's fur also looks a lot like yours, you better pretend to be like a big polar bear... "
The little wolf didn't take care to look at Xu Bei. It stuck its head out between the fence. However, when it wanted to retract it, it found that its head was stuck in the two fences picks and wouldn't come out. It was so anxious that it continuously whimpered.
"Fuck me, ah. Are you really a wolf?" Xu Bei almost angrily laughed. He walked over and pulled the fence to push the wolf's head back. "Really fucking losing face, it's a damn shame. It's just your nature, if I didn't want to bring you back at that time, you would have died no less than ten times over."
After walking straight along this pathway in front of the house for approximately half an hour, you can see the border of the city. Xu Bei did not bring along anything, there was nothing he could bring along either. He put the uneaten chocolate into his pockets and set off. Along the way, he verbosely reminded the little wolf to act like a dog. The little wolf may have understood it and from beginning to end obediently followed Xu Bei beside his feet.
Xu Bei unhurriedly walked away without looking back. He knows that someone is following after him. He has no other skills, but his hearing is first class and the quiet sound of those almost inaudible footsteps has been behind him all along the way ever since he left that cabin.
In fact, even if he was a deaf man, he also could have guessed that Ban Datong's people would definitely be watching his every move.
But he is not at all worried, this person that is following after him must have set about this task early-on. His only minor grievance is how he should make his escape. If he was by himself, he could have thought up of a method, but he now has such an eye-catching thing trailing at his side, not to mention that this is Ban Dantong's subordinate, they would be a highly attentive person who could also pick the two of them out of a crowd with a glance.
After over half of an hour, Xu Bei and the little wolf stood on the side of the road, and a private minibus heading for the city stopped in front of him.
"Yo, I can't do such a big dog, ah, it will bite people!" The conductor stretched his head out from the ticket-vending window and shouted.
"It doesn't bite people, I'll buy a ticket for it as well." Xu Bei quickly jumped into the vehicle before the conductor could make up his mind. The little wolf followed right after him and jumped up. When it got on the bus, it was very unscrupulously sniffing and looking at things left and right. The passengers on both sides of the aisle were frightened into moving out of the way, Xu Bei gave it a kick to calm down.
"Aiyo." The ticket seller stared at the little wolf with a little fear. This vehicle has taken on chickens, ducks, and rabbits, and even pigs have been boarded, but this is still his first time seeing such a big dog.
Xu Bei did not talk much and followed the passageway to the seats, and the conductor still hesitated to still his heart and follow after them to the rear and prepare himself to collect the money.
When the vehicle was set into motion, Xu Bei did not keep a stable stance and his body ran into the man sitting next to him. He held the back of the chair to support himself and smoothly slipped away from directly facing the glare of the man with sleekly combed hair, saying a word of apology. He put his hands back into his pockets
There is a wallet in his pocket, he squeezed it, it's not bad, there's a little money.
Xu Bei finally sat down in the deserted last row and the little wolf obediently laid down in the aisle, it rubbed against Xu Bei's foot and shut its eyes.
The conductor followed right behind him to collect the money. He took the wallet out of his pocket and drew out a bill to hand over. In passing, he swept a quick glance at the money inside. He estimated there to be three or four thousand. After the conductor turned to leave, he took the money out and stuffed it into his pocket, he then opened the window and threw the wallet out of the window.
Xu Bei chose to get off at the neighboring university town some distance from the city center. The foot traffic here is not very large. The appearance of the little wolf won't attract too much attention. He had caught sight of the person following him all along the way driving a car, there are a lot of small streets and alleyways here, just threading his way through a few paths at random will give him the chance to throw him off his back.
But he was not in a hurry, he slowly circled about on the street along with the little wolf.
This is the first time that the little wolf has seen so many people. It was a little jumpy. From time to time, it would flinch from being scared by the sound of the loudspeakers placed in the doorways of stores. It also jumped from the sound of car horns, coming back to knock against Xu Bei's leg.
"Can't you calm down a bit," Xu Bei said, a little helplessly as he bought two Chinese hamburgers on the side of the road. He stood on the curbside to eat together with the little wolf and explained to it in whispers, "You do know that you make me look like a fellow villager who entered a large city for the first time with a big rural dog, don't you?"
The little wolf didn't look at him. It lowered its head to eat the Chinese hamburger in his hand. It didn't take more than two or three mouthfuls before the entire bun was finished off. It was still trying to lick up the oil on Xu Bei's hand clean and it produced a belch towards Xu Bei.
Xu Bei hasn't eaten this well in an extremely long time. After eating less than half of this bun, his stomach soon felt a bit unwell and he gave the rest to the little wolf.
He used his peripheral vision to look at the car about 50 meters away from him. The person in the car was surprisingly very dedicated to his work. He hasn't even eaten breakfast from the beginning of following him up until now. He supposes that they also haven't eaten lunch. If he continues to walk about, he may be able to starve the person in the car to death.
Across the street, there was a China Mobile Business Hall. Xu Bei petted the little wolf's head: "Son, I need to go in and do something for a moment, can you promise that you will be well-behaved and wait by the door?"
(TN: From my understanding, it's just like a customer-service office for China Mobile users.)
The little wolf attentively gazed at his face for a moment, then bowed his head and sniffed at his opened hand.
"I will buy another one for you, but you have to obediently wait for me, do you hear me? If you dare run around all over the place again, Laozi vows not to look for you anymore." Xu Bei firmly pulls the little wolf's ears and looks into its eyes, forcing the little wolf to clearly see the serious expression on his face.
The little wolf held the Chinese hamburger in its mouth and followed close behind Xu Bei across the street. Xu Bei took it underneath a tree outside the Business Hall: "Just eat this here, I will come out right away."
The little wolf sat down beside the tree pit and appeared quite peaceful. Xu Bei took three steps back into the Business Hall.
On the machine for checking his phone bill, he pulled up a list of calls from his old mobile phone number from the past several months. He wanted to find Ma Saner.
In fact, Ma Saner's phone number has a memorable trait, a string of 8s, it looks just like a number for the nouveau riche, but Xu Bei cannot remember it anyway.
He wrote down a few numbers that he was going to use on his new mobile phone. Xu Bei did not waste too much time and exited the Business Hall. The little wolf has already finished eating, it was standing under the tree and looking at the car on the street. Its head follows the car that has been driven from left to right, and then from right to left. Its ears stood ramrod straight as if he were on guard against the enemy.
Xu Bei felt it was funny and sneaked over and tried to give it a kick. He didn't expect his leg to kick thin air. The little wolf's head did not turn around and just dodged. Xu Bei did not keep his balance and almost fell down. He steadied himself by holding onto the tree and looked at the little wolf for a good while.
"Aiya, Huhu you bastard, ah" Xu Bei was quite amazed, he pointed at the little wolf. "You've made your Dad lose a lot of face, stay still and let me give you a kick."
The little wolf turned its body to look at him and sat with its butt on the ground. It lifted its hind paws up to its head and scratched, its face was inexplicable. Xu Bei walked over and placed a kick on its rear and only then did he wave his hand and walk away in satisfaction.
Xu Bei took the little wolf down the tiny street and moved forwards. He appeared to be wandering around without a goal in mind. He entered three stores en route. The first store was a clothing shop where he bought clothes for himself. The second store he entered was a luggage shop where he bought the largest wheeled-luggage. The third store he entered was a supermarket to buy a pack of cigarettes and a few bags of chocolates with alcohol filling. He then stood on the side of the road to call Ma Saner.
"Saner, send the ID card for me to the university town within twenty minutes."
"Xiao Bei-ge? Are you all right?" Ma Saner felt very surprised to receive a call from Xu Bei, "What name do you want?"
(TN: He's basically calling him Little Big Bro Bei, a very familiar nickname lmao. Xiao means little and denotes familiarity and ge means big brother, something you'd use on an older male to show closeness.)
"Ban Datong."
"Xiao Bei-ge, you're not kidding me. I'll make it for you, I will just have to die on the street tomorrow..."
"Then what are you wasting words for, since when did I use another name?"
"I am coming soon, will you be at the main entrance or the back door?"
"Main entrance."
Ma Saner took a taxi down and the first thing he saw was the little wolf staying beside Xu Bei's foot. He stared blankly and hesitated, not daring to approach. He called out for Xu Bei from ten-meters away: "Well shit, Xiao Bei-ge, you really still have the leisurely frame of mind to raise a giant dog, ah!"
"It doesn't bite people, get the fuck over here." Xu Bei is a little impatient, Ma Saner is not a reliable person, he does not want to chat with him a lot.
Ma Saner worked up his courage and walked over, he took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Xu Bei: "Where are you going to stay now? What else do you need, I will help you get it."
"That small inn you used to go to on Guang'an Road." Xu Bei was in the act of fishing out the cash.
"Don't, ah," Ma Saner held down Xu Bei's hand. "Who is who between the two of us, ah, you must be short on money now, as your little brother, I'll lend you a hand."
(TN: Not actually his little brother, same concept mentioned in previous TN.)
Xu Bei glanced at him and also wasn't very polite towards him. He took his hand out from the inside of his pocket: "Okay then, I will contact you again later."
Xu Bei watched as Ma Saner faded away in the distance on the road and the outer corner of his eyes swept over to the car with his peripheral vision as it unhurriedly drew closer. He moved his arms about for a bit and started jumping up and down in place: "Son, in a moment the two of us won't be taking a walk, the two of us will be running away. You follow immediately after me."
He also didn't wait for the little wolf to express whether it understood or not. Xu Bei abruptly lifted the suitcase and turned around to flee into the small alleyway behind him. The little wolf stared blankly for a bit and jumped up right after him, it overtook him in a few steps and ran very fiercely in front of Xu Bei.
"Like hell you know the way, beat it to the back." Xu Bei spoke a line of curses, although his legs were not a huge hindrance, running so much out of nowhere was still a bit terrible and drew out some pain.
Xu Bei hasn't obediently stayed in school for more than a few days ever since he was a child. Most of his time spent in school was hanging out on the streets. He was quite familiar with the twist and turns of the small streets and alleys of the university city.
After running for more than ten minutes with the little wolf, he came to a stop in a little deserted alleyway, throwing the suitcase to the ground, sitting his ass on the suitcase, gasping for breath like a bellow, unable to say a single word for a long time.
(TN: I didn't know what a bellow was so I'll say it here, it's a contraption that's designed to make a strong blast of air when you pump it out and down. You've most likely heard of it before, people in the olden days would use them to push oxygen into fireplaces to keep the fire going.)
The little wolf seems to wish to continue on running, this can be seen as it runs all around Xu Bei, looking as calm and composed as if it had been watching birds, there is not the slightest trace that it had been running.
"You fucking deserve to be called a wolf... Dad admires you, at any rate, you... let's also set up a resting stop for Laozi, ah..." Xu Bei panted for a long time and slowly stood up from the suitcase and laid the suitcase flat on the ground. He opened the flap, "Son, you'll be wronged for a bit, get in."
The little wolf blankly stared at the huge suitcase and didn't move for a long time.
"Get in," Xu Bei reached out and grabbed the wolf's forelegs and pulled it into the suitcase. The little wolf jumped in fright and pulled back in a panic. Xu Bei was a little anxious, but he was also afraid of startling the little wolf and had no other alternative but to let it go, "Dad is begging you, hurry up and get in, it's just for a little while, I will let you out soon."
The little wolf lifted its front paws and entered the suitcase bit by bit before once again pulling back.
"Go on, don't be afraid, aren't you the greatest?" Xu Bei very patiently knelt down and encouraged the little wolf. It didn't move then either, the little wolf is too big now, its strength is also very ample. It's completely impossible to squeeze it in the suitcase by force, you can only coax it as if it were a child.
Xu Bei took a piece of chocolate out from his pocket and unwrapped it below the nose of the little wolf: "It has a liquor filling, smell it, go in and I'll give it to you to eat."
The little wolf's nostrils suddenly began expanding and contracting, and its fear of the suitcase was finally defeated under the foot of its appetite. For that piece of chocolate, it jumped into the suitcase.
Xu Bei stuffed the chocolate into its mouth and took advantage of the little wolf's lapse in attention. He abruptly pulled its legs and pushed it over into the suitcase. He then proceeded to quickly shut the flap and rose up in one bound to sit on the suitcase. He zipped the zipper up, patted the suitcase top, and said in a whisper, "Son, it'll just be a moment, hang in there, don't flail about or else I'll throw you directly into the trash."
After Ma Saner met with Xu Bei, he also walked forwards down the road without turning back. After turning into a department store, he took out a mobile phone and dialed a number: "Ban-ye, I just saw Xu Bei. He had a huge dog with him and he's staying at that small inn on Guang'an... proof? No, he didn't ask me for that one thing..."
(TN: Ye in this instance means grandpa or old gentleman, Old Man Ban sounded nice but I thought I'd just leave it in Chinese. Old Man Ban sounds a bit too informal, but eh~)
(TN: Back on this yeah? I've been so tired lately... Schoolwork just popped out of nowhere. Eh, but look at this, on the run with a dog. Hopefully, Ban Datong gives us all the gift of not having to hear from him, like at all, never again. Done with him. Disappear into the void. Canceled. Can't have a Ban Datong is over party if it never really started in the first place though can we? Shame.)