All My Colleagues Are Animals 30

Chapter 30

Ye Qingyu had always been a very accepting person.

She never judged others’ hobbies based on her own preferences, adhering to the attitude of “as long as no innocents are harmed, its existence is reasonable.”

Therefore—

Gu Yue fantasized about being a pelican, constantly muttering “let me clamp,” and even developing a crush on the big goose next door… She understood and respected it.

After all, with the high pressure of modern society, it was a form of spiritual comfort for people to imagine themselves as carefree small animals or to like a certain type of aggressive animal.

Jin Can and her ex-girlfriend played “master and puppy” in an open relationship, and after breaking up, she still liked to fetch balls like a puppy… She understood and respected it.

Humans have a selfish and flawed nature, and infidelity and fickleness are common. For Jin Can to be as sincere and loyal as a real puppy was truly commendable. As for being keen on fetching balls? That was because the bad woman had hurt her too deeply, causing psychological trauma.

Shui Zhu wrote human-beast and beast-beast romances every day. Those unheard-of plays and passionate, detailed descriptions, though niche, she understood and respected.

Everyone has their own unique kinks. Moreover, Shui Zhu was willing to write and produce content for everyone to enjoy, which was undoubtedly a great thing.

Luo Bian and her ex-girlfriend liked to go wild swimming, often arguing in rivers and lakes, and they were in a relationship with a large age gap… Ye Qingyu understood and respected it.

Life is short. Do what you like, love who you want, without caring about the opinions of others. Of course, wild swimming is very dangerous. Sister Luo and her ex must have had professional skills that ordinary people do not possess.

As for her beautiful boss…

Boss Pei was, in every way, the most wonderful and lovely person. Whatever she did or said, there was surely a reason for it.

In short, coming to the new company was like a modern person stumbling into a primeval forest without any warning. She was shocked every day, but Ye Qingyu had already come to accept her new colleagues from the bottom of her heart.

Everyone was open-minded and tolerant, with a kind of stable madness. There was no mental friction, no infighting, just a happy enjoyment of life.

But, but, but—

At this very moment, she saw Sister Luo’s cheeks being slapped with two wet, red marks by the mantis shrimp in her hand. It looked quite comical, yet her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

She said to the mantis shrimp, her eyes filled with tears, “You’re still so good at whipping me!”

Ye Qingyu: “…”

The seafood store owner: “…”

The owner whispered to Ye Qingyu, “How long has Sister Luo been like this?”

She was very worried that her biggest customer was about to be admitted to a mental hospital, and her monthly turnover would plummet.

Ye Qingyu’s eyelashes trembled, her throat dry. She couldn’t speak.

…

“She would just flick her shrimp tail, and I’d go scuttling over.”

“Back then, she would use her walking legs to cling to me. In the end, I would swim back to my cave, completely drained.”

…

The words Sister Luo had said suddenly surfaced in her mind. Ye Qingyu hadn’t understood them before, but now, it was as if she had been enlightened—

So she… she’s actually in a real human-shrimp relationship!

As her worldview was turned upside down, Ye Qingyu suddenly realized that Sister Luo’s long, light-blue hair was dyed to match her “ex-girlfriend.”

What kind of deep love was this?

This world had finally become something Ye Qingyu could not understand.

Over there, Sister Luo was holding onto her precious ex-girlfriend and not letting go, but the ex-girlfriend didn’t seem to appreciate it, constantly struggling and whipping her tail, and in a flash, had slapped another red mark on Luo Bian’s wrist.

Her eyes sparkled. “This is what I liked about you back then, so feisty.”

Luo Bian was immersed in the excitement of her surprise. It took her a long while to realize she was still in the seafood store.

She immediately and coolly waved her hand. “Boss, quick, pick out the prettiest, cleanest glass tank and sell it to me. I need to take my ex-girlfriend home right away.”

The owner looked at Luo Bian and her shrimp, dumbfounded and speechless.

It took a long while for her to find her voice, and she clumsily did as Luo Bian said.

She pulled Ye Qingyu aside and whispered, “Please let me know the hospital bed number later. After all, we’re old acquaintances. I’ll bring a fruit basket to visit.”

***

Ten minutes later, Ye Qingyu was sitting in the back of the tricycle, face to face with a mantis shrimp in a large glass tank.

—Sister Luo’s ex-girlfriend.

These four words surfaced in her mind, creating a huge sense of absurdity.

The mantis shrimp in the glass tank was clearly not in a relaxed state. Its whole body was curled up, as if in fear and unease. It floated alone in the large tank, no longer showing the crimson color from before, but had returned to its beautiful, light-blue hue.

Ye Qingyu closed her eyes and repeatedly told herself—

So what if Sister Luo has a shrimp for a girlfriend? It’s not hurting anyone…

“Ye Qingyu,” Sister Luo, driving the tricycle, suddenly called out.

Ye Qingyu looked up and answered a beat later.

“Is she okay?” Sister Luo asked, a rare hint of nervousness and gentleness in her tone.

Before Ye Qingyu could answer, she had already temporarily parked the tricycle on the side of the street, gotten out of the driver’s seat, and come to the back to see for herself.

She reached a hand into the glass tank, extended a fair fingertip, and gently caressed the mantis shrimp’s head, saying softly:

“Don’t be afraid, I’m right here in front…”

The little shrimp refused to cooperate. Its body faintly turned crimson again and it flicked in the water, its walking legs haphazardly pawing at Luo Bian’s fingertip, not letting her pet its head.

Ye Qingyu noticed that although this “ex-girlfriend” was not very cooperative, ever since Luo Bian had come over, her state had clearly become more relaxed. Her curled body had unfurled, no longer in fear.

And although she outwardly wouldn’t let her head be petted, her entire body was actually pressed against Luo Bian’s fingertip, a classic case of a mouth that says no while the body says yes.

Her heart stirred, and she let out a silent sigh.

Although… although this time it’s not so easy to understand, the human and the shrimp seem to be truly in love.

And, it turns out that mantis shrimp are actually emotional creatures. My understanding of animals has been too shallow.

…

Returning to the studio, Luo Bian couldn’t wait to get her ex-girlfriend settled.

This spot didn’t have good lighting, the ex-girlfriend wouldn’t like it; that spot had a bad view, the ex-girlfriend wouldn’t be comfortable.

It really made her, a shrimp, worry to death.

And Ye Qingyu returned to the work area, sat down at her desk, and the first thing she did was search for “mantis shrimp” online.

【Do mantis shrimp have intelligence?】

【Can mantis shrimp understand human language?】

It seemed no one cared about this question at all. The search results were all advertisements for aquaculture and a hundred ways to cook mantis shrimp.

Ye Qingyu was lost in thought.

She had a vague intuition that she was about to touch a wondrous corner of this world…

With a creak, the door to the work area opened.

She subconsciously looked up and saw her beautiful boss walk in, a leaf still caught in her long, reddish-brown curls.

Her stunning peach blossom eyes were red-rimmed, glistening with a moist sheen. It seemed this crybaby had been crying again.

Her heart tightened. Ye Qingyu watched the woman, instantly forgetting the story of the human-shrimp unrequited love.

Pei the Red Panda had had a long dream this morning. In the dream, there was lightning and thunder, and it had scorched her beloved fur.

She had tried desperately to escape but was always caught and brought back, and zapped until she “ying-ying-ed.”

After waking up, she was still immersed in that feeling, unable to stop trembling and crying. She had hugged her large tail and licked her fur for a long time, but still couldn’t dispel the fear.

And she had even scratched her paws by accident.

She needed to be coaxed by a human to get better.

And so, she walked straight to Ye Qingyu’s desk without a word, her fingertips grabbing the fabric of the young woman’s shoulder and giving it a tug.

Ye Qingyu looked up and saw Boss Pei’s face, like a peach blossom drenched in spring rain, the teardrops on her lashes sparkling, looking shattered and pitiful.

She said sullenly, “Ye Qingyu, I had a nightmare.”

She paused, then continued, “My left paw is also injured…”

After today’s shock, the small matter of her beautiful boss calling her left hand her “left paw” was already trivial.

Ye Qingyu looked at Boss Pei’s hanging left hand. The woman’s nails were clean and beautiful, but they were all too long, and the nail on her index finger was already a little broken in the middle.

Her brow immediately furrowed, as if she could feel the pain herself.

She immediately stood up. “Let me take a look at it. Where’s the first aid kit?”

“In the recreation area.”

Pei the Red Panda blinked her peach blossom eyes and held out her wrist to her, her voice weak from crying. “You hold my hand.”

Her colleagues around were all busy with the “Small Animal Survival Guide,” and no one was paying attention to this corner.

Ye Qingyu, going with the flow, took the crying boss’s wrist and led her out of the work area to the recreation area opposite.

She found the first aid kit in a drawer and also grabbed the tissues and nail clippers from the side.

When she turned around, her beautiful boss was already curled up on the beanbag sofa.

She walked to the sofa and squatted down, looking at the woman’s tear-streaked face. She held a tissue and said softly:

“Let’s wipe your tears first, okay?”

Pei the Red Panda’s lashes fluttered. She glanced at the tissue, her hands unmoving, as if it were a matter of course that Ye Qingyu would wipe them for her.

Ye Qingyu, accustomed to this, wiped her beautiful boss’s tears.

This had apparently become a part of her daily work, even more frequent than going shopping.

Holding the tissue, she gently touched the damp marks. But she felt that the more she wiped, the more there were, and she could never finish.

—The crying boss had started crying again.

Boss Pei’s body trembled slightly. She was crying like a frightened, stray little beast, looking up at her, her face a wet peach blossom, and said with a sob:

“Ye Qingyu, lightning is very scary.”

“It also hurts a lot when it hits you.”

Ye Qingyu’s fingertips froze. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible giant hand, and the tip of her nose also felt inexplicably sore.

She thought Pei Rong was trapped in her nightmare and couldn’t get out. She raised a hand and gently touched her long, reddish-brown curls, comforting her with the utmost gentleness. “It was just a dream. It doesn’t hurt now.”

Pei the Red Panda’s breath quickened. She cooperatively tilted her head up, her fluffy lashes trembling slightly, enjoying being soothed like this.

Actually, she felt it wasn’t quite enough.

She wanted her ears petted too, and her back, and her paws.

But a little panda is not greedy. At least at this moment, the young woman’s gentle eyes were enough for her to gradually forget the terrifying dream on the scholar tree.

The beautiful boss’s rain of tears gradually subsided, leaving only a faint red flush, like a clear sky after a storm. Ye Qingyu’s heart relaxed slightly.

She patted her head again, coaxing her like a small animal cub. “Give me your left hand. I’ll take care of your injured nail.”

“Your nails are a bit long. They need to be trimmed, otherwise they’ll break easily like today.”

Pei the Red Panda had still been in the soft afterglow of her crying, but hearing this, her pupils trembled.

The human actually wants to cut her nails?

She immediately puffed up with anger, no longer letting Ye Qingyu pet her head, and hid her hands behind her back without a word.

A little panda hates getting her nails cut the most.

Every time her human form’s nails grew long, it would greatly affect her use of her phone and keyboard. But she was really afraid of the feeling of getting her nails cut, so she would always leave them until she absolutely had to, and then cry and cut them herself.

With this thought, she hid her hands even deeper behind her back and, with a face that was clearly still tear-streaked and pitiful from crying, said with an air of arrogance:

“Ye Qingyu, you won’t be cutting my nails today.”

If a red panda’s nails are cut, won’t she really be a ‘little able cat’? I don’t want that!

Ye Qingyu blinked, a little confused. “You don’t like getting your nails cut?”

“…It’ll hurt,” Pei the Red Panda said sullenly.

Ye Qingyu paused slightly, a little amused.

Could it be that the young miss isn’t very good at cutting her own nails?

“It won’t hurt if you do it right,” Ye Qingyu said in a gentle voice. “If you leave your nails uncut, it’ll hurt when they break in the middle.”

Pei the Red Panda’s ears twitched slightly. She looked at her sullenly without a word, still in a mood, looking as if she had bristled.

Ye Qingyu was helpless against her. She thought for a moment and suggested:

“How about I just try cutting one of your uninjured nails? I’ll stop immediately if it hurts. If we don’t cut them today, what will you do next time your hand gets hurt?”

Pei the Red Panda pondered for a moment and finally seemed willing to relent. She threatened dangerously, “If it hurts, I’ll bite you.”

“Okay,” Ye Qingyu said with a smile.

Seeing the human agree with such confidence, Pei the Red Panda felt that she might actually have some amazing skills.

And so, after a long hesitation, she finally extended her left hand to the human, her face buried in the crook of her arm.

She looked exactly like a small animal about to be executed.

Her pink lips were slightly parted, the tips of her sharp canines exposed, as if she would take a fierce bite if the human dared to hurt her.

Ye Qingyu held the woman’s slender, white fingertips and positioned the nail clippers.

Click.

A crisp sound rang out in the air. Pei the Red Panda’s scalp instinctively tingled, and a trembling “ying” escaped her throat.

Ye Qingyu looked up, her voice tinged with a smile. “How does it feel? Does it hurt?”

Pei the Red Panda moved her head, revealing half of her face from between her long, fluffy curls.

It seemed it really didn’t hurt.

“Then I’ll continue,” the human said gently.

…Getting her nails cut wasn’t torture after all.

In her daze, Pei the Red Panda unknowingly and obediently cooperated, extending her right paw after her left.

Soon, the human had cut them all cleanly, and the broken wound was also meticulously treated, without hurting her at all.

“Alright, take a look.”

Pei the Red Panda looked down at her short, smooth nails and her peach blossom eyes widened.

Her human form’s nails had never been this short.

The next second, she belatedly became melancholic.

With my paws trimmed like this, I really am Pei the Little Able Cat now.