All My Colleagues Are Animals 25p2

Chapter 25 p2

Luo Bian took Ye Qingyu to all the stalls in the seafood section, carefully inspecting the mantis shrimp for sale that day.

When she turned around and saw Ye Qingyu’s usually bright eyes looking dazed and sad, she couldn’t help but sigh. “I’m going to deliver lunch to Sister Rong at noon. Do you want to come along?”

Ye Qingyu’s eyes moved, and she immediately stared straight at her, like a puppy that had been dejected one second and had its ears perked high the next.

Luo Bian’s heart jolted.

Could it be that the content of the red panda class is real? That Pei the Red Panda really knows how to train a human, to make her “inseparable from you, eternally loyal, and come back to you”?

Then, would that set of theories also work on a mantis shrimp…

As she pondered, Luo Bian looked at the tank full of unfamiliar mantis shrimp in the seafood stall. Her eyes dimmed, and she gently sighed and shook her head.

Leaving the seafood stall empty-handed, she drove the tricycle with the ingredients and the human back to the studio.

“Sister Luo, are you preparing lunch for Boss Pei?” Ye Qingyu poked her head into the kitchen.

“Yes,” Luo Bian said, washing bamboo leaves.

“Could you please give me a container?”

“Sure.”

Ye Qingyu received the washed glass container and carefully peeled sweet grapes and mangosteens into it, then put the lid on.

When Luo Bian came out of the kitchen, she saw the human gently preparing the little panda’s favorite fruits, and her gaze paused.

No, no, I’ll have to find Jin Can to copy those notes later. What if I can use them in the future?

It was I, a shrimp, who failed to recognize greatness. The Pei the Red Panda class is truly profound…

After a simple lunch, the two headed to the hospital together.

Jumping off the tricycle, Ye Qingyu looked up at the eye-catching sign on the hospital building—”Mianmian Small Animal Hospital”—and her eyelashes trembled.

“Sister Luo, are you sure Boss Pei is being treated here?”

“Yup,” Luo Bian said. “We have an acquaintance here. We all come here when we’re sick.”

Ye Qingyu’s throat moved.

She tried her best to cast aside her prejudice—perhaps this acquaintance was a master who was skilled at treating both humans and small animals.

The interior of the hospital was high-end and exquisitely decorated, spacious and clean everywhere.

Ye Qingyu followed Sister Luo into the elevator and down the corridor. She saw a dog yelping in pain while getting a shot, being comforted by its owner; she also saw a cat fiercely bite a doctor that its owner couldn’t pull off.

—It looked like a genuine veterinary hospital that treated animals.

Therefore, when she reached the end of the corridor, walked into the VIP ward, and saw her beautiful boss lying alone on the hospital bed, a profound sense of surrealism washed over her.

Ever since starting at the new company, her eyes had been opened every single day.

The woman seemed to have just woken up. Her long, reddish-brown curls were draped messily over her shoulders, her cheeks flushed with the glow of a full sleep.

Seeing Ye Qingyu, she blinked her peach blossom eyes, showing a hint of surprise.

Luo Bian explained, “Ye Qingyu was worried about you, looking completely out of it, so I brought her along to deliver lunch.”

The tips of Ye Qingyu’s ears turned red.

Why does this statement of fact sound so strange?

Pei the Red Panda bit her lip. The experience of being vigorously rubbed by an invisible hand unconsciously surfaced in her mind. And so, when she met Ye Qingyu’s gaze, her ears couldn’t help but twitch, and her chest grew hot.

She pulled up the covers, wrapping herself up tightly. In her panic, she asked casually, “Have you two eaten?”

“We have,” Luo Bian said. “Ye Qingyu also brought you mangosteens and grapes.”

“…” Pei the Red Panda’s eyes slowly lit up.

She temporarily set aside the issue of tail-rubbing and sensitivity.

She sat up, her hands weakly tucked under the covers, and stared straight at Ye Qingyu.

And so, when Doctor Liu entered the room, she saw Pei Rong lying half-limp on the hospital bed, and a beautiful young human sitting by the bed, spearing a peeled grape with a fork and gently and carefully feeding it to her.

Her brow immediately furrowed.

“Want more?” Ye Qingyu asked.

Pei the Red Panda glanced at the doctor, then at the young woman’s gentle eyes, and inexplicably felt a sense of confidence.

It’s not that she’s greedy. It’s that she can’t bear to let down Ye Qingyu’s good intentions.

And so, she commanded with righteous indignation, “I want a mangosteen.”

Doctor Liu’s brow twitched.

She wanted to stop her, but found that Pei the Red Panda had already bitten into the last piece of mangosteen, and the fruit box was empty.

“Are you done?” she asked, her voice cold and merciless. “The patient needs to rest quietly. Too many visitors will affect her recovery.”

Hearing this, Ye Qingyu was immediately a little worried. She packed up the fruit box, stood up, and said to Luo Bian, “Then, Sister Luo, let’s go.”

Although Boss Pei was unwilling to disclose what illness she had, seeing that the woman’s complexion was good and she was eating fruit very enthusiastically, she was temporarily at ease.

“Boss Pei, rest well and get well soon.”

The young woman left with her sincere wishes.

Pei the Red Panda stared at the closed ward door.

Doctor Liu crossed her arms and said leisurely, “Pei Rong, I hope you can reflect on your mistakes.”

Pei the Red Panda blinked her peach blossom eyes.

“I told you not to consume sugar and not to have contact with humans when you’re nearing your mating season,” Liu Mian said. “And what did you do? You had a human intimately feed you a whole box of fruit, breaking both rules.”

After speaking, she let out a cold laugh. “This month, you will definitely get a stomach ache and come to the hospital crying for an IV drip, believe it or not? Every time you get a shot, you whimper in pain, and a few days later, the scar is healed and the pain is forgotten.”

Pei the Red Panda licked the tip of her teeth, a guilty look flashing in her eyes. She changed the subject. “I think I’m better. I’ll be discharged this afternoon.”

“You don’t feel like a human is petting and hugging you anymore?” Liu Mian asked.

“Mhm.” Pei Rong moved her body a little. “Coming here for the moxibustion seems to have worked. I haven’t had that kind of hallucination at all today.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your physical examination,” Liu Mian pointed out. “It must be because you had contact with a human while nearing your mating season, causing some kind of dangerous effect. You should not be too close to her from now on.”

Pei the Red Panda gave a haphazard reply and was discharged from the hospital in a cheerful mood.

Her furry ears, her beloved large tail—today, they all belonged to her completely.

There were no human fingers pinching and kneading them, and when she slept at night, she didn’t feel like she was being held in a soft embrace.

She had truly and completely recovered!

…

Tuesday.

Ye Qingyu had spent the night at her mother’s house yesterday. She returned to her own apartment in the early morning to tidy up and get ready for work.

Before changing her shoes at the entryway, a thought struck her. She turned back to the master bedroom and put her beloved red panda doll into her small bag.

She hadn’t been able to hug it to sleep last night, so she might as well play with it while slacking off at work today.

Knock, knock.

A knock sounded on the work area door.

Bai Shuang’s calm voice sounded. “Sister Rong is calling you all to the recreation area for a meeting.”

Ye Qingyu’s ears twitched, and she looked up from her computer screen.

For the first time ever, they were actually having a meeting.

Jin Can next to her also let out a surprised sound. “I’ve never had a meeting before! What did you all do in meetings before?”

Gu Yue yawned lazily. “We just talk about fun things, chat. No need to be formal.”

Hearing this, a thought struck Ye Qingyu. She took the doll out of her small bag.

As she walked to the recreation area with her colleagues, she asked casually, “Jin Can, are you also new to the studio?”

Jin Can blinked her puppy-dog eyes. “I joined at the same time as you. I just came a few days earlier.”

“I see…”

Ye Qingyu remembered the recruitment notice for Velvet Bamboo Studio. It had been emphasized in large letters that they were only recruiting “one (1) human,” but in the end, both she and Jin Can had been hired.

It seemed they had expanded their recruitment.

Everyone gathered in a circle in the recreation area, without any of the formality or urgency of a meeting.

“Sister Rong, what’s the meeting about today?”

“Today…”

Pei Rong opened her mouth, about to answer, but her throat suddenly tightened, and her words came to an abrupt halt.

—How… how could I have that feeling of being held in an embrace again…

Her heart began to pound chaotically with nervousness.

But when she looked up, she saw the young woman across from her sitting up straight, watching her intently.

And she was hugging the red panda doll she had given her…

She couldn’t help but purse her lips.

No. This is the first time I’m holding a meeting in front of the human I’m raising. I must establish my, Pei the Red Panda’s, prestige.

And so, she took a deep breath without a change in expression, trying hard to ignore the feeling of being held, and a hint of seriousness appeared on her face. “Do you all remember our backup plan? It’s time to activate it.”

Nian Qiu tilted her head. “The ‘Small Animal Survival Guide’?”

“Yes.”

Ye Qingyu’s ears were perked up. She watched her beautiful boss hold the meeting without blinking.

The woman’s peach blossom eyes were still lazy, and as her red lips opened, an unconscious charm radiated out.

As she watched, she unconsciously pinched the ear of the plush toy in her arms, kneading it wantonly with practiced ease.

Pei Rong said slowly, “In recent years, the number of small animals our studio has rescued has been… getting… less and less…”

Her voice suddenly broke off, and she barely managed to suppress the light pant that had almost escaped her throat.

My… my ears are being pinched again…

Nearing her mating season, she was already sensitive. And the invisible fingers were quite skilled at rubbing, making Pei the Red Panda’s peach blossom eyes instantly fill with mist as a crimson flush climbed up her neck.

Her fingertips, resting on the sofa, silently tightened, her knuckles turning white from the force as she tried to bear this strange sensation.

No… the human I’m raising is still watching me.

Pei the Red Panda was a very prideful red panda. Her majestic prestige was all earned through her own efforts!

She forcibly suppressed her trembling, wanting to continue the meeting. Her gaze inadvertently swept down and suddenly found that the young woman’s fingers were wreaking havoc on the plush toy’s ears—

—folding them in half, kneading them, pinching and pulling them, playing with them in all sorts of shapes.

It was exactly the same as the feeling of her own ears being played with right now.

“…” Pei Rong’s heart stuttered for a moment, and an incredible suspicion surfaced in her mind.

Ye Qingyu was completely unaware that she was touching the doll; it was just a habit she had developed over the past few days.

And so, as a matter of course, after she had had her fill of rubbing the ears, her hands moved on to the doll’s large, fluffy tail.

As she moved, she was still watching Boss Pei and suddenly felt that the woman’s expression was not right.

Those peach blossom eyes seemed to have been soaked by spring rain, suddenly becoming misty, and a pitiful pink color gradually seeped from the corners of her eyes…

Could it be that she hasn’t fully recovered from her illness?

Worried, she subconsciously squeezed the large tail.

“…”

Pei Rong’s breath hitched, and she almost let out a moan.

Her human form didn’t have a large tail, so she felt a dense, tingling itch spread from her tailbone, surging up her spine and devouring all her other sensations.

No, no, I can’t take it anymore…

“M-meeting… dismissed—!”

She haphazardly left behind a few words, then stood up and fled the recreation area.