All My Colleagues Are Animals 12

Chapter 12

On her second day of work at the new company, Ye Qingyu achieved a new life milestone:

She made her boss cry.

When it was time for lunch, she went to the first-floor dining area and, as expected, did not see Boss Pei.

She could only sit alone at the dining table, eating without tasting a thing.

After cleaning up the kitchen, Luo Bian walked out humming a song. Seeing Sister Rong’s precious human chewing on her chopsticks, motionless for a long while, she couldn’t help but tilt her head.

“Ye Qingyu, have you fallen in love with eating chopsticks? I’ll stir-fry a plate for you tomorrow.”

“…” Ye Qingyu’s eyelashes trembled. “No.”

She started to eat, only then noticing that there was also a nourishing soup for lunch today, its medicinal aroma even stronger than yesterday’s.

Seeing that Sister Luo was about to leave, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is Boss Pei not coming for lunch?”

“Sister Rong is sleeping,” Luo Bian said. “You just eat up.”

After all, once the red panda has had her fill of sleep and is full of energy with nothing to do, won’t she extend her evil, furry little paws toward the human?

Luo Bian gave her a “take care of yourself” look and left the building on her own.

During the lunch break, Ye Qingyu was led to the third floor of the building by Bai Shuang.

“You can stay in this room for your lunch breaks from now on. Boss Pei ordered the bed for you; it just arrived last night.”

Ye Qingyu nodded.

After Bai Shuang left, she took off her outerwear and lay down on the large bed that Boss Pei had specially ordered for her.

The clear, tranquil scent of the bedsheets filled her nose, and her body felt the resilient support of the mattress.

Her mood also seemed to have fallen into the clouds, the pain softly enveloped.

As her mind went blank, the image of Boss Pei’s face and ears burning red, her peach blossom eyes misty, stumbling back with her hands raised in surrender, began to replay uncontrollably in her head.

【Red pandas are extremely timid animals. When frightened, they will stand up straight and raise both paws above their heads in a surrender-like posture to bluff.】

—As a red panda enthusiast, Ye Qingyu subconsciously made this connection.

Boss Pei is a bit like a walking red panda…

The moment this thought arose, Ye Qingyu was dazed for a moment.

She shook her head, feeling that she shouldn’t arbitrarily think of her boss as a small animal. She rolled over, pulled the covers up, and closed her eyes.

Ten minutes later.

Ye Qingyu opened her eyes.

She really is so similar!

…

A furry paw stretched out in the air, resembling a blooming orchid as it unfurled.

Pei the Red Panda, having just woken up from a full sleep, was still a bit groggy. She rolled over on the tree branch, her paws slowly rubbing her face.

Her mind was empty. It took a few minutes for her to come to her senses.

—What did I do this morning?

Mmm, I was originally looking forward to petting my human, but then I was suddenly scared by the lightning, and then…

I cried in front of my human.

It was truly damaging to her, Pei the Red Panda’s, prestige.

Pei the Red Panda shook her large, furry ears in annoyance and climbed down from the tree.

…

The moment Pei Rong pushed open the door to the work area, she saw her human instantly look up from her computer, staring straight at her.

As if she had been waiting eagerly for her.

Tsk.

A subtle pleasure rose in Pei the Red Panda’s heart.

She crooked a finger at Ye Qingyu. “Ye Qingyu, come to my office.”

Seeing Ye Qingyu, who had been listless all afternoon, now with a slight brightness in her eyes, stand up without a word and head to the office, Jin Can couldn’t help but sigh, her puppy-dog eyes turning sad again.

“It was the same for me back then. My master would just crook her finger, and I’d go running over…”

Luo Bian, who had come to the second floor to play on the computer, also sighed, as if some memory had been stirred. “It was the same for me back then. She would just flick her shrimp tail, and I’d go scuttling over…”

Hearing these words, Ye Qingyu stumbled slightly, her earlobes tinged with a faint pink.

What are they all talking about!

I’m clearly just feeling guilty and worried about Boss Pei.

After entering the office, Ye Qingyu skillfully closed the door.

She realized that she had only been working here for two days, but she had already lost count of the number of times she had been in the boss’s office.

Her beautiful boss was now leaning lazily in her office chair, silent, her eyes fixed on her with a gloomy gaze.

A jade-green leaf was once again caught somewhere in her long, reddish-brown curls, as if she had been sleeping in a tree during lunch.

Ye Qingyu pushed aside her wild thoughts, cleared her throat, and asked in a gentle voice, “Boss Pei, are you feeling better?”

Pei the Red Panda let out a soft huff.

Ye Qingyu didn’t know if that meant she was better or not.

She blinked and asked again, “Are you still angry at me?”

Pei the Red Panda huffed again.

Ye Qingyu had always been an extremely patient person. Moreover, feeling that she was in the wrong, she didn’t mind Boss Pei, who already had a bit of a young lady’s temper, treating her with such an inscrutable attitude.

Her expression was gentle. She tilted her head slightly and smiled, unknowingly adopting a coaxing tone. “Then I’ll take it that you’re not angry anymore?”

“…No.”

Pei the Red Panda finally deigned to speak, saying nobly, “Not unless you let me pet you.”

Ye Qingyu froze, subconsciously repeating, “Pet me?”

Pei the Red Panda looked at her human’s clear and gentle eyes and felt a little charmed, her heart starting to itch.

Humans are raised for cuddling. What’s wrong with me petting her a little?

I didn’t get to pet her this morning, and it even made me, a little red panda, tremble in a tree all afternoon. Shouldn’t I get to pet her properly this afternoon?

“Just say whether you’ll let me pet you or not,” Pei the Red Panda said, lifting her chin.

Ye Qingyu’s heart skipped a beat. “…”

Encountering such an improper request in the workplace, her first reaction should have been resistance and disgust.

But Boss Pei’s peach blossom eyes were no longer misty with tears as they had been when she was frightened. They were once again blooming with a free and vivid light.

The meaning within them wasn’t deep or dark, just rippling with sparkling expectation, showing a kind of spoiled cuteness.

…Getting petted is just the punishment I should endure after making Boss Pei cry.

Ye Qingyu had accidentally and illogically convinced herself. Then, she said words she had never imagined she would say: “Pet… pet where?”

Pei the Red Panda licked her teeth.

She thought for a moment, then crooked a finger at Ye Qingyu again. “You come here first.”

Ye Qingyu hesitated for half a second, then, with her back straight and a righteous expression, walked over to the boss’s office chair.

Boss Pei then gave another lazy command: “Squat.”

Ye Qingyu’s pupils trembled.

Wait… what is this!

Seeing Ye Qingyu standing there stiff as a board, Pei the Red Panda tilted her head, a little dissatisfied.

“Ye Qingyu, if you don’t squat, how am I supposed to pet your head?”

Pei the Red Panda will sit if she can, and lie down if she can sit. Sitting here to pet a human is already a huge concession.

“Oh.” So it’s just petting my head.

Ye Qingyu instantly relaxed and squatted down without any fuss.

She was about to look up and say something to Pei Rong when she felt a gentle pressure on the top of her head.

The woman’s palm was kneading her hair with a careful and fitting motion, just like petting a puppy’s head.

There was no method to it, but it was very gentle.

Ye Qingyu’s breathing slowed. She felt no resistance. Instead, her expression unconsciously relaxed.

She actually felt at ease and comfortable.

“Now that you’ve joined my studio, you’re my little animal.”

The words Boss Pei had once said echoed in her mind.

At this moment, those words seemed to exhale a sigh of fate.

Although Pei Rong had done her homework before petting the human, now that she was actually doing it, she had forgotten the specific petting procedure.

She felt that the human’s hair was good enough to pet. The soft, smooth texture made the little red panda unable to put her paws down.

As she was petting, a thought suddenly struck Pei Rong. She silently transformed into a red panda.

The jade-white hand on top of the human’s head instantly became a black, furry paw.

With the experience from yesterday’s lunch break, she carefully retracted her sharp claws, letting the soft fur of her paw pad press down.

Mmm, a hand and a paw each have their own unique flavor when it comes to petting.

Pei the Red Panda squinted her eyes in pleasure. Her paw, like she was kneading dough, repeatedly bloomed into a little flower on the human’s head, pressing and treading.

Ye Qingyu felt that the thing petting her head had suddenly changed.

She focused her senses for a moment, then couldn’t help but look up, only to meet the woman’s innocent peach blossom eyes.

On top of her head was, indeed, just Boss Pei’s hand.

It was just my imagination.

And in that instant of looking up, Ye Qingyu suddenly realized how compromising the current scene was—

I really, it seems, am being her dog!

Ye Qingyu’s heart trembled. She suddenly felt as if she were being pricked by needles and couldn’t help but speak up. “Boss Pei, are you done?”

Pei the Red Panda’s hand paused. Her peach blossom eyes drooped, becoming misty with a hint of sadness.

“Ye Qingyu, when I used to get scared by lightning, I would always think: if only I had something to pet.”

Ye Qingyu: “…”

She lowered her eyes, and the top of her head gently nuzzled Pei Rong’s palm.

…

A dozen or so minutes later.

With a few soft clicks, the office door opened and closed.

Ye Qingyu walked out, returning to her desk in a daze.

She felt a sense of exhaustion and hangover, as if she had worked all night at a club and was now floating out the main entrance at dawn.

Jin Can was once again moved by the scene. “Back then, my master would pet me, unable to put me down. In the end, I would also lie back in my nest, head over heels just like this.”

Luo Bian also propped up her chin. “Back then, she would use her walking legs to cling to me. In the end, I would also swim back to my cave, completely drained just like this.”

Ye Qingyu: “…”