All My Colleagues Are Animals 20

Chapter 20

Pei the Red Panda had been quite puzzled lately.

The internet said that when raising a puppy, you should get a custom collar and engrave the owner’s name and phone number on it. This would not only give the puppy a sense of belonging but also prevent it from getting lost.

So, she had carefully customized a beautiful collar for Ye Qingyu. The color of the leather even strictly matched the noble fur of a red panda.

After giving it to her with satisfaction, she began to look forward to Ye Qingyu wearing it. The young woman’s neck was slender and long; it would surely look very good on her.

On the first day, Ye Qingyu didn’t wear it.

Pei the Red Panda understood. The human must have carefully wiped her beloved collar and then let it air dry.

On the second day, Ye Qingyu still didn’t wear it.

Pei the Red Panda understood. The human must have been worried about damaging her precious collar, so she took it off before showering and, in her morning carelessness, forgot to put it back on.

On the third day…

At the entrance of the small building, Pei the Red Panda stopped Ye Qingyu, who had just returned from shopping with Luo Bian.

She reached up and grabbed the collar of the human’s shirt, saying lazily, “Ye Qingyu.”

Luo Bian looked left and right, tutted twice, and, with great tact, drove the tricycle away.

Ye Qingyu was a bit taller than Pei Rong. Now, with her collar being held, she could only cooperate by bending down slightly, her gentle eyes extremely innocent. “Boss Pei, what’s wrong?”

Pei Rong’s pink lips parted slightly, the tips of her sharp canines eye-catching. Her peach blossom eyes filled with a certain sullenness.

“Why haven’t you been wearing the collar I gave you?”

“…”

Ye Qingyu’s eyelashes trembled.

This… is this something we can just talk about directly?

With her colleagues at the studio so enthusiastic about playing “master and puppy,” it was hard for Ye Qingyu not to overthink the collar that Boss Pei had suddenly given her.

Looking at the elegant reddish-brown leather, at the bamboo-leaf-shaped gem pendant engraved with the character “Rong,” if she were to wear this collar, wouldn’t she truly be her beautiful boss’s dog?

In all her years of working, Ye Qingyu had never encountered such a tricky situation.

After much thought, she had ended up storing the collar safely in a locker, hoping Boss Pei would forget about it.

But clearly, some things couldn’t be escaped or avoided.

“You don’t think it’s pretty?”

The beautiful boss tilted her head, her peach blossom eyes gradually filling with doubt and disbelief.

“It is pretty,” Ye Qingyu denied immediately.

If you really thought it was pretty, how could you not wear it?

Pei Rong didn’t listen. Her thick lashes drooped, and her mood soured.

“The color of the collar is a red panda’s fur color, and the pendant is a bamboo leaf, which red pandas like to eat, and it’s also your surname… and you actually don’t think it’s pretty.”

A thought struck her, and Pei the Red Panda understood.

When she looked up again, her peach blossom eyes were misty, as if soaked by a sudden spring rain.

“You don’t like red pandas anymore.”

“…” Ye Qingyu’s eyes widened.

She couldn’t quite keep up with her beautiful boss’s train of thought.

Before she could defend herself, the woman had already turned and walked away, her back a mix of cold pride and melancholy.

Ye Qingyu stood stunned for a moment, then took a step and chased after her. “Boss Pei!”

She chased her all the way from the building’s entrance to the backyard, finally standing under a lush scholar tree, looking around blankly.

The large swimming pool, the scholar tree, the bamboo grove, the slide and seesaw… in her wide field of vision, there was no trace of Boss Pei.

Where did her big, beautiful boss go? How did she suddenly disappear!

Whoosh—

Something fluffy suddenly whipped against the back of her head.

Ye Qingyu’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately turned to look at the scholar tree behind her.

A gentle breeze rustled through, the green leaves of the scholar tree swaying lightly, its flowers now budding.

Pei the Red Panda was curled up among the intersecting branches, her paws hugging her large, fluffy tail tightly, completely hidden in the human’s blind spot.

Ye Qingyu’s brow twitched. She turned back around, having found nothing.

Whoosh—

A dozen or so seconds later, a large, fluffy, reddish-brown tail with beautiful rings once again swung past the back of the human’s head.

Ye Qingyu’s eyelashes trembled. She quickly turned around again, this time looking more carefully.

Still, she only saw an innocent, quiet scholar tree.

Could there be… something strange in the backyard…

Did the vanished Boss Pei run into danger?

Ye Qingyu’s heart instantly clenched, and a dense worry spread through her chest.

She stood a little further away from the eerie scholar tree. While carefully observing for any new movements, she took out her phone from her pocket and called Boss Pei.

No one answered.

Oh no.

Boss Pei wasn’t eaten by the sentient scholar tree, was she!

Ye Qingyu’s heart grew more and more anxious. An inexplicable unease washed over her, drowning her until she could hardly breathe.

“Ye Qingyu, what are you doing here?” Luo Bian’s voice suddenly came from her side.

Ye Qingyu’s ears twitched. She turned her head and saw Sister Luo leaning against the slide, her arms crossed leisurely.

“I’m looking for Boss Pei. Boss Pei is missing.”

The worry on the human’s face was sincere, but in Luo Bian’s eyes, this sincerity turned into a clear foolishness.

She flicked her damp, long hair and teased leisurely:

“What are you doing looking for her by the scholar tree? Could it be… that Sister Rong is up in the scholar tree?”

In the tree, a certain quiet Pei the Red Panda’s ears twitched.

She wished she could chew up that mantis shrimp.

She silently climbed down from the other side of the tree, carefully tidied her hair after transforming into her human form, and then cleared her throat lightly. “Ye Qingyu.”

Ye Qingyu’s heart tightened, and she immediately turned around.

Her beautiful boss had appeared not far behind her at some point, standing there, lovely and completely unharmed.

The stone in her heart instantly fell. The tip of her nose even felt a little sore for some reason.

Only in this moment did Ye Qingyu realize just how worried she had been—abnormally worried.

As long as you’re okay.

As long as you haven’t left again.

—These two sentences arose in her heart for no reason, as if she had once tasted a profound loss.

“…Ye Qingyu.”

Pei the Red Panda had been putting on the airs of being angry, maintaining a cold silence. But seeing the young woman looking at her with misty eyes, as if she were really worried, really cared…

Her heart couldn’t help but soften. She tilted her head. “What’s wrong with you?”

Why do you look so pitiful?

Forget it. I’ve already punished her with my tail. I’ll just let the human coax me, a little panda, a few more times, and it’ll be fine.

With this thought, Pei Rong took a step toward the young woman, intending to pet her head.

In the next second, she saw Ye Qingyu, with those misty eyes that shimmered in the warm spring sun, say seriously:

“I really do think the collar is beautiful. I was just a little embarrassed to wear it.”

“And the red panda plush toy you gave me, I hug it to sleep every night.”

“I know Boss Pei likes red pandas and treasures me as a fellow fan, which is why you gave me these gifts.”

After a pause, Ye Qingyu emphasized with great sincerity, “I love red pandas the most. I’ve loved them for many, many years. Boss Pei doesn’t have to worry about me ‘un-stanning’. Next time… next time, please don’t get angry and run away.”

The tone of her last sentence was almost a plea.

“…”

Pei the Red Panda was stunned, her pink tongue unconsciously licking her lips.

What’s a “fellow fan”? And what’s “un-stanning”?

But seeing the young woman looking so pitiful and speaking so gently about how much she loved red pandas, Pei the Red Panda felt comfortably coaxed.

She magnanimously made a concession. “Since you’re embarrassed to wear it in front of everyone, then tomorrow, in the office, with the door closed, you can secretly wear it for me to see.”

“…” Ye Qingyu’s breathing tightened, and for a moment, she couldn’t speak.

“You can’t?” Pei Rong’s peach blossom eyes narrowed slightly.

Ye Qingyu’s heart skipped a beat. Before the woman could get angry and run away again, she said hastily, “I can.”

A thin layer of sweat broke out on her back.

It’s over. This time, it’s not just like role-playing, it’s like having an affair.