All My Colleagues Are Animals 28p1

Chapter 28 p1

The air fell into a strange, delicate silence.

Ye Qingyu stood at the bathroom door, looking at her beautiful boss who, like a timid little red panda, had thrown her hands up in “surrender” out of fright.

Her gaze swept over the suspicious rosy juice staining those snow-white fingertips, then moved to the woman’s misty, sweet-stained lips.

Her brow twitched. She was torn between exasperation and wanting to laugh.

“Boss Pei.” Ye Qingyu took a soft breath, trying hard to suppress her smile, and said with feigned confusion, “Are you surrendering?”

Pei Rong’s eyelashes trembled, and she belatedly came back to her senses.

Her breathing instantly tightened.

It’s over. I’ve been caught red-handed by the human.

She lowered her peach blossom eyes, which had been misty with fright just moments ago, and dropped her surrendered hands to her sides.

Under the young woman’s searing gaze, she bit the corner of her lip, like a fluffy little red panda that had been caught by the scruff of its fated neck while playing and was now dangling in mid-air.

No.

I can’t let the human hold me by the scruff like this. Otherwise, what will become of my majestic prestige?

With this thought, Pei the Red Panda firmly lifted her gaze and said with an air of nonchalance, “Ye Qingyu, thank you for all your hard work peeling mangosteens for me.”

Ye Qingyu tilted her head. “Hm?”

“So, today, I’m going to peel them for you,” Pei the Red Panda said calmly.

The human will surely be moved and can’t help but offer to share them with me.

“So Boss Pei didn’t nap at noon because she was peeling mangosteens for me? And worried they weren’t sweet, she even sacrificed herself to taste a few first?”

Ye Qingyu had a sudden epiphany.

Pei the Red Panda’s brow furrowed, sullen. “I only tasted one piece of the flesh.”

It’s truly upsetting. She had been meticulously planning today’s mangosteen feast for so long, only to be caught after eating such a tiny piece.

“Well, since Boss Pei peeled the mangosteens herself, I certainly won’t let your efforts go to waste. I’ll be sure to finish them all,” the human said.

Pei the Red Panda was slightly stunned.

Finish them all? Not going to share any with a little panda?

Returning to the office, Ye Qingyu saw the bag of round mangosteens on the desk and couldn’t help but sigh softly.

Truly, a red panda’s greed is never satisfied.

She walked closer and saw the messily peeled mangosteen on the desk, with only a small piece of flesh missing. Her heart relaxed a little.

Thankfully, she had only eaten a little before I accidentally caught her.

“So this is the one Boss Pei peeled for me?”

Under the woman’s direct gaze, she picked up the mangosteen. With a few nimble movements of her fingertips, the remaining flesh was completely exposed.

She opened her lips, bit down, and ate it in one go.

Instantly, the clear fragrance of mangosteen filled the air.

Pei Rong’s peach blossom eyes widened at the sight.

Her pink lips also parted unconsciously, revealing the two sharp canines of a small beast, the tips glistening, looking extremely greedy.

“So Boss Pei has only peeled one mangosteen,” Ye Qingyu said righteously, looking at the woman whose eyes were flickering. “Then I won’t trouble you with the rest. I’ll just take them and peel them myself.”

“…”

All of them… are being… confiscated!

Pei the Red Panda took a deep breath.

She leaned back in her office chair, her peach-blossom-like face filled with unconcealed anger, her eyes fixed on the black bag in Ye Qingyu’s hands.

…I haven’t eaten fruit for a whole week. My tongue is full of the taste of bamboo shoots. I’ve almost forgotten what mangosteens and apples even taste like.

What’s wrong with a little panda eating just a little bit?

The more Pei the Red Panda thought about it, the more wronged she felt. A thin mist gradually filled her peach blossom eyes, and her thick, dark lashes glistened with moisture. She bit her lower lip with her sharp teeth.

Ye Qingyu had been intentionally teasing her beautiful, snack-stealing boss, but she saw the woman first sit angrily in her office chair, and then her peach blossom eyes were gradually drenched by an invisible spring rain, her tears shimmering. Her long, reddish-brown curls framed her cheeks fluffily, and she looked utterly pitiful and wronged, like a little red panda whose food bowl had been snatched away by its keeper.

Her heart skipped a beat. Her fingers, clutching the bag, tightened, making a faint rustling sound.

Maybe… maybe I’ll just peel two for Boss Pei to eat…

What’s wrong with eating two…

Looking into those shattered, misty, tear-filled eyes, Ye Qingyu’s sense of supervision grew weaker and weaker, already on the verge of collapsing.

Just as she was about to speak, she was instantly reminded of the scene on the tricycle by the woman’s reddened eye corners and tightly bitten lower lip.

Boss Pei clutching her stomach, in so much pain she was like a fragile, helpless little beast.

No, I can’t be soft-hearted.

Ye Qingyu managed to rein in her thoughts of feeding her, but she couldn’t just sit by and watch her crying boss.

It was as if she had once raised a fluffy, crying little beast, holding it in the palm of her hand and doting on it, never willing to let it suffer the slightest grievance.

She came back to her senses and unconsciously walked toward the office chair. Her free hand pulled out a tissue. She leaned over and gently and meticulously wiped the young miss’s tears.

She cries when she’s scared, cries when she gets a shot, and cries when she’s abstaining from sugar.

She thought with a sense of helpless exasperation as she skillfully wiped her tears.

After she was done, she invited softly, “Boss Pei, would you like to come to my place for dinner after work today?”

“Although you can’t eat fruit for now, I can make you other delicious things.”

Pei Rong was already feeling wronged. Being served so gently by the young woman, she became even more spoiled and delicate, her tears flowing ceaselessly.

Until she heard the words “delicious things.”

Her ears twitched, and for a moment, she forgot to cry.

The last time she went to Ye Qingyu’s place for dinner, the human’s cooking was indeed very good.

Sweet and sour pork with pineapple, lychee-stewed shrimp…

Pei the Red Panda’s gaze gradually brightened.

Tears still shimmered in her eyes, sparkling like crushed diamonds.

Her throat moved. She deliberately hesitated for a few seconds before giving a reserved agreement.

“Mhm.”

Ye Qingyu’s heart relaxed, and she chuckled softly.

Bzz— Bzz—

The phone on the desk suddenly rang.

Pei Rong sniffled and answered the call, listening to what was being said on the other end.

Her face was still flushed with a post-rain dampness, looking fragile and alluring, but now her brow furrowed slightly, and she gained a certain negotiating aura.

“I’ve said it before, I will bear the full cost of the losses. The price of the magazine will be set at 1 yuan for now. Most of our kind who have just entered society don’t have much money…”

Ye Qingyu crumpled the tissue in her palm and watched silently, a sudden sense of disconnect washing over her.

Sometimes, Boss Pei is a crying little red panda, and at other times, she’s a mature company boss.

Like a small animal stumbling as it’s forced to integrate into society, occasionally indulging its natural animal instincts, but more often having to put on an adult facade to survive.

At this thought, a sharp pain shot through her heart for no reason.

It was as if she knew that, if not for the whims of fate, Pei Rong could have just been the former.

…

At 5 PM, they left work on time.

Sister Luo and the tricycle were not at the company, so Ye Qingyu and Pei Rong took the subway back to her complex together.

It wasn’t yet the evening rush hour, so there were still empty seats on the train.

They sat side by side. Midway, a middle-aged man got on and sat down next to Pei Rong.

His legs, which had never been disciplined by society, were spread wide open, taking up a large amount of space and almost crowding Pei Rong.

Ye Qingyu’s brow immediately furrowed.

She said softly, “Boss Pei, let’s switch seats.”

After switching seats, the usual gentleness on her face vanished, replaced by a certain detached coldness. She said to the man, “Excuse me, please close your legs. You’re crowding us.”

This man was not as tall as her, and his posture was slumped and loose, so he had to look up at her.

Perhaps intimidated by her aura, the anger that had just appeared in the man’s eyes was extinguished, and he silently closed his legs.

The young girl sitting on the man’s other side immediately shot her a grateful look.

Ye Qingyu pursed her lips, and a thought suddenly flashed through her mind—

Maybe I should buy a car.

That way, when Boss Pei comes to my place in the future, I can drive her instead of squeezing onto the subway like this.

The next second, she haphazardly stuffed this thought into a corner.

It’s too strange, as if I’m eagerly looking forward to Boss Pei coming to my place.

Ten seconds later, she took out her phone, clicked into the official website of a well-known car brand, and browsed.

It wasn’t that she wanted to buy one, just that she first checked the disposable funds in her bank account, and then casually scheduled an appointment to see a car at a dealership on Saturday afternoon.