All My Colleagues Are Animals 34

Chapter 34

“Beep—”

“Beep-beep—”

The jarring sound of car horns urged from the side.

Ye Qingyu managed to come back to her senses. Her scattered gaze refocused, and only then did she realize the red light had long since turned green.

She quickly released the brake and pressed the accelerator.

As she moved, her heart was still pounding, making her chest feel hot.

Her blood pumped rapidly to her limbs, dyeing her ears and the skin of her neck a vivid red.

Not to mention the spot where the woman had just kissed her.

A soft, damp feeling seemed to linger there, searing all her senses.

Pei the Little Able Cat was nestled in the passenger seat, looking at her human. She tilted her head, a little innocent and confused.

How did Ye Qingyu suddenly turn as red as a shrimp?

The next second, she had a realization.

The human must be so moved she’s about to cry.

With this thought, she curled her red lips in pleasure, turned her head to look out the window, and announced lazily:

“I’ll be even better to you in the future.”

“…”

Ye Qingyu’s eyelashes trembled.

The heat surging through her heart was both strange and familiar. She took a silent deep breath and couldn’t help but pull the car over to the side of the road.

Pei the Little Able Cat blinked her peach blossom eyes. “Ye Qingyu, why did you stop the car?”

Ye Qingyu took a bottle of mineral water from the side of the door and, tilting her head back, drank half of it in one go. The coolness instantly soaked her heart, and it seemed to have a slight cooling effect.

“…I was suddenly thirsty.”

She looked at the woman sitting in the passenger seat and explained.

Her gaze unconsciously moved down and landed on Pei Rong’s lips, which were as beautiful and fragrant as a cherry blossom blooming in spring.

Just now, pressed against her cheek, they had been as soft as cotton candy…

Ye Qingyu’s breath hitched. Her gaze immediately and unnaturally moved away, and she drank the remaining half bottle of cool water, trying to extinguish the inexplicable and offensive thoughts along with it.

Seeing the human down the entire bottle of mineral water, Pei the Little Able Cat propped up her chin and commented seriously:

“Ye Qingyu, you’re really thirsty.”

But these six simple words, upon entering the human’s ear and churning in her complex and dangerous brain, inadvertently took on a darker meaning.

“…”

Ye Qingyu’s throat tightened, and for no reason, she felt a little guilty.

She fumbled to turn on her turn signal and started the car again.

The drive from her home to the company clearly only took twenty minutes, but it had suddenly become incredibly long.

Finally, the SUV arrived at the entrance of the small building’s courtyard.

Ye Qingyu breathed a sigh of relief and raised a hand to unbuckle her seatbelt, but her arm was held down by a hand.

Pei the Little Able Cat wrapped her small blanket tightly around herself and said calmly, “You can just drop me off here. I’ll go in myself.”

Ye Qingyu thought for a moment and agreed. “Okay, then take the bag in the back seat. There are clothes and a thermos inside.”

She instructed in a gentle voice, “The thermos has the ginger and brown sugar water I just made. Drink it if your stomach is upset, but it’s a little hot, so remember to let it cool down a bit before you drink it. There’s also a pack of painkillers. If it hurts a lot, you can take one every 12 hours.”

“Mhm, mhm.”

Pei the Little Able Cat curled her lips, very pleased with the human’s meticulous care for her.

First time awkward, second time familiar. She unhurriedly reached out and hooked Ye Qingyu’s neck, while her other hand held her chin and turned Ye Qingyu’s face a little.

This familiar preamble made Ye Qingyu’s heart jolt. A certain premonition surged up, and her pupils couldn’t help but constrict. “Pei—”

Before the word could leave her mouth, the woman had already leaned over.

Carrying a warm and clear, sweet scent of bamboo leaves, she planted a “smack” on her other cheek.

“I’ll be good to this side too,” Pei the Little Able Cat said to the human, full of spirit.

She didn’t notice at all that the human’s gaze had subconsciously landed on her lips, with a certain unknowing obscurity.

Is Ye Qingyu about to cry from being moved again?

I should get out of the car quickly, to give the human space to cry in secret, so she won’t be embarrassed.

With this thought, the considerate Pei the Little Able Cat immediately got out of the car, wrapped in her little blanket, and took the bag from the back seat, only to find that this canvas bag was also printed with a cartoon image of her, Pei the Red Panda.

A certain little red panda returned to the small building, very satisfied, leaving the innocent human sitting in the car in a daze, unable to recover for a long while.

The beautiful, reddish-brown SUV remained parked for a long time before, like a beast waking from a deep sleep, it drove back onto the street.

***

When Ye Qingyu returned home, it was just in time for sunset.

The orange-yellow evening sun spilled through the French windows into the living room, dyeing everything with a warm glow.

The messy sofa, the askew plush toy, and the lingering sweet scent of bamboo leaves in the air also seemed quite lively.

But Ye Qingyu pursed her lips, only feeling a familiar loneliness and emptiness.

Every time Pei Rong came to visit and then left, she would stand in her home and have this feeling.

And it was getting stronger and stronger.

With a soft sigh, Ye Qingyu methodically tidied up the sofa, then went back to her bedroom to clean up.

The room was filled with a sweeter fragrance than the living room, and there was also a certain dampness that faintly pervaded, making her feel a hotness in her chest.

It made one unconsciously think of the two sudden kisses in the car.

They were crisp and clear, so the meaning of the kisses was very pure and simple.

It was the human’s mind that was too complicated, not frank enough.

Ye Qingyu stood still for a few seconds, then walked over and pulled open the curtains. The sunset could now shine unobstructed on the messy thin covers, sheets, and pillows.

It wasn’t hard to imagine the kind of struggle and trembling Boss Pei had gone through here during her nightmare.

She picked up the twisted-up thin covers and suddenly noticed several tears in the bedsheet.

Her movements paused.

Boss Pei’s fingernails on both hands had been cut short by her, and the edges had even been filed smooth. How could they be sharp enough to scratch out so many holes?

Could it be that she had bitten them?

Thinking of her beautiful boss’s canines, which were sharper than a normal person’s, the three bite marks on the side of her neck began to ache faintly.

“Really…”

Really like a little beast.

Ye Qingyu sighed helplessly, but the next second, she couldn’t help but laugh.

For no reason at all.

***

Monday.

The sun was warm and gentle.

After intensive preparations, the first issue of the “Small Animal Survival Guide” was finally finalized, and the publishing house had sent over a few sample copies.

This thin magazine actually didn’t have much content.

Only columns on small animal science, sharing survival experiences, passionate small animal novels, a small animal bot, and small animal rescue.

Picking up the magazine and flipping through a few pages, Ye Qingyu began to question her own comprehension skills again.

For example, she had now flipped to the “Sharing Small Animal Survival Experiences” section and saw one entry:

【Do not make a small animal doll that looks exactly like yourself, otherwise in the spring, you will be rubbed until your head explodes with fireworks.】

She pondered over it word by word, but still couldn’t understand it. Refusing to believe it, she looked down and saw the next entry:

【For small animals, what is more important than managing your emotions is: managing your large tail.】

After a moment’s thought, Ye Qingyu began to feel at ease:

As a model employee of the company, even if I don’t understand the product my company has made, I must respect it.

Flipping further was the novel column. Ye Qingyu casually glanced at it and saw:

【The pelican, with teary eyes: “Peck me! Peck me harder!”

The pelican’s fragile and alluring appearance ignited a faint excitement in the goose’s heart. She squinted her eyes and pecked fiercely again.

Instantly, another wound appeared on the pelican’s wing.

She was tied to the trunk of the cypress tree in the courtyard, unable to move. Though she was already covered in marks, she trembled and said, “It’s not enough…”】

She was actually seeing BDSM literature.

Ye Qingyu’s soul trembled, and she scrambled to the next column, the “Small Animals Have Something to Say” bot.

Since there were no fan submissions yet, this column should have been empty, but her beautiful boss had crooked a finger, and Ye Qingyu had compiled all the red panda submissions.

Actually, the submission inbox had also suddenly received an anonymous submission:

【Spring is here, and all the small animals are entering their mating season. They are fragile and sensitive, and must not be rubbed.】

But the reviewers had said that the word “mating” was too explicit and would be censored, so this submission had not been included.

…

Ye Qingyu continued to flip the pages and came to the final rescue column of the magazine.

She read it carefully and found that it was the story of a Golden Retriever.

The Golden Retriever had been abandoned on the street at birth. A kind master had picked her up and, with meticulous care, raised her from a little puppy that hadn’t even opened its eyes and could only whimper, into a beautiful, large Golden Retriever.

The master was gentle and patient with the Golden Retriever, buying her cute collars, petting her every day, taking her for walks in the park, and even sleeping with her at night. The human and the dog spent most of their time together.

Because Golden Retrievers were banned within the 5th Ring Road of B-City, the master had even moved from the bustling area to the suburbs for the dog, and had obtained a dog license to legally raise her…

But one day, this warmth came to an abrupt end.

The Golden Retriever unfortunately contracted a serious illness with a high mortality rate. The master immediately sent her to the veterinary hospital for treatment, but after returning home that night, did not come to visit again.

After disappearing for five days, the master suddenly appeared at the veterinary hospital, stopped the treatment, forcibly discharged her, and then hastily abandoned the seriously ill Golden Retriever in a pile of trash.

Fortunately, the boss of Velvet Bamboo Studio found the dying Golden Retriever in time and sent her to a veterinary hospital to receive the best treatment.

After a full six months of treatment, the Golden Retriever finally recovered completely and became a dog that could jump and run.

The story was written in the first person, from the Golden Retriever’s perspective. Every time the master was mentioned, the emotion in the words was real and intense, full of sorrow.

For some reason, Ye Qingyu immediately thought of Jin Can.

Shui Zhu to her left was not there, so she could turn her head and directly see Jin Can at the next desk.

Sure enough, she saw Jin Can holding the magazine, her puppy-dog eyes red-rimmed.

She looked up at the ceiling mournfully. “My master was really good to me back then.”

Gu Yue sighed. “So good people can turn bad at any time.”

Jin Can fiddled with the small pendant on her collar and said nothing, her fluffy, brilliant-gold hair drooping, looking just like a dispirited little Golden Retriever.

Clearly, she saw herself in the Golden Retriever’s story and empathized deeply.

Ye Qingyu couldn’t help but sigh.

Why do these masters suddenly turn bad? Leaving behind such devoted young girls to be heartbroken every day.

She put down the magazine and handed Jin Can a tissue.

Bzz—

The phone on her desk suddenly vibrated. It was the 10:30 AM alarm.

Time to go shopping.

Seeing that Gu Yue had come over to comfort Jin Can, Ye Qingyu felt a little relieved. She stood up to go to the first floor to find Sister Luo.

She happened to see Luo Bian by the fish tank in the living room.

The woman’s long, light-blue hair was dripping wet, as if she had just emerged from the tank, and water was still trickling down.

And in the tank now, there was only one mantis shrimp, curled up in a corner, completely crimson, as if it had just been bullied.

Sister Luo had a triumphant look on her face, the corners of her lips curled up. “Let’s go. Time to shop.”

Ye Qingyu looked at the tank again, thoughtfully, before turning to follow her.

The moment the main door of the small building was opened, a refreshing spring breeze rushed in, blowing the water from the tips of Luo Bian’s hair onto her face.

She took out a tissue to wipe it clean, her movements so practiced they were heartbreaking. “Sister Luo, you’re so wet(cháo).” (T/N: “潮 (cháo)” can mean both wet/damp and trendy/cool.)

Luo Bian was still savoring the sweet taste of her ex-girlfriend from just now. Hearing this, she immediately and coolly tilted her head back. “Am I? Sis has always been trendy.”

I have to think of a way to become even more trendy, to charm my ex-girlfriend.

But then she heard the human add, “I mean, you’re not dry.”

Luo Bian: “…”

Luo Bian: “Oh.”

So it was the ‘wet’ kind of wet.