All My Colleagues Are Animals 39

Chapter 39

Dusk deepened, and the orange-red sunset stained the horizon.

Ripples spread across Yuqi Lake, the water and the sky sharing the same color.

A human and a red panda were strolling by the lakeside.

Pei the Red Panda skillfully slipped a hand into the young woman’s palm, and with the other, she pointed to the opposite shore of Yuqi Lake.

“Ye Qingyu, I have a bamboo forest over there.”

Ye Qingyu held her mischievous hand tightly and, hearing this, couldn’t help but ask, “Does it produce bamboo leaves?”

“It produces both bamboo leaves and bamboo shoots,” Pei Rong said. “The quality is excellent.”

Ye Qingyu had an epiphany.

She had been thinking that her beautiful boss’s astounding wealth surely couldn’t have come just from demolition. After all, no matter how high the compensation was, with the studio’s unrestrained daily spending, there would come a day when they would run out of money.

As expected, there was another source of income.

“The scholar tree in the backyard of our small building was also transplanted from this lake area,” Boss Pei added.

Ye Qingyu thought of that strange, mysterious scholar tree that seemed to have a large, fluffy tail and could move on its own without any wind, and a slight chill ran down her spine.

She gathered her thoughts and said, “So this lake area has a deep connection with Boss Pei.”

Pei the Red Panda said, “Mhm.”

“A few days ago, I met your mother, and you introduced me to her, so I brought you here,” she said seriously.

Hearing this, Ye Qingyu’s heart stirred.

She suddenly stopped and turned around, and the woman whose hand she was holding had to stop as well.

Pei the Red Panda tilted her head. “What’s wrong?”

Ye Qingyu raised a hand and gently tucked the woman’s long, curly hair, which had been tousled by the spring breeze, behind her ear, and said in a soft, quiet voice:

“So this was Boss Pei’s intention in bringing me here?”

“Mhm,” Pei the Red Panda nodded, as if it were a matter of course.

She, a little panda, had been cast out and rejected by her entire clan at birth. She had no mother to introduce to Ye Qingyu, and no other relatives to speak of.

Only this Yuqi Lake area, which had invisibly given her, a lonely and pitiful little panda, endless shelter, was a safe and strong existence for her, like a home.

And bringing the human she was properly and openly raising here was Pei the Red Panda’s way of repaying her, and also a kind of ritual.

Now, it was even more legitimate than the original proper and open raising. She reckoned Ye Qingyu wouldn’t dare to look at another small animal again.

Ye Qingyu stared at the woman’s peach blossom eyes. They held the pure and untamed innocence of a small animal, fluffy.

Pei Rong treated people with sincerity. If she received a little bit of cherish, she would always remember it and repay it with great seriousness.

This kind of simple and clear truth, though clearly very gentle, was accompanied by a huge attraction.

Ye Qingyu felt her thoughts instantly being stirred into a deep vortex by this attraction. Her heart pounded, and a numbness spread through her chest.

She didn’t know if the heat burning the tips of her ears was from the setting sun, or if a vigorous fire had also sparked in her heart.

Her breathing quickened, and she felt a strange and strong thirst coursing through her blood, blooming and on the verge of igniting.

Pei the Red Panda blinked her eyes lightly.

The human’s usually clear-as-spring-water eyes seemed to have been swallowed by the dusk, appearing bottomless and extremely dangerous.

—Why does Ye Qingyu look like she’s about to eat me, a little panda?

The red panda, in her mating season, couldn’t help but tremble slightly, her legs feeling a little weak.

No, that can’t be.

She, a little panda, is a ferocious beast. If she gets fierce, it’s more likely that she’ll eat the human…

Pei the Red Panda’s chest rose and fell, her cheeks unconsciously flushing a spring-cherry pink. “Ye Qingyu?”

Ye Qingyu came back to her senses with a start.

Meeting the woman’s clear eyes, she was so flustered for a moment that her pupils lost focus. She took a deep breath, and only then managed to suppress that strange, hot feeling.

“Are you tired? Do you want to go back and rest?”

Her voice was a little hoarse when she spoke. She looked at the orange-red sunset that was burning even more brilliantly in the distance, and suddenly, she didn’t dare to look at Pei Rong.

Pei the Red Panda bit her lip. She moved her legs slightly and felt a certain dampness between them, which was a little uncomfortable.

“Let’s go back. I need to go to the bathroom,” she said.

And so, they walked back hand in hand, the atmosphere a little strange and quiet.

Tu Shanyue called out loudly, “I was just about to call you two! Come and play a game.”

Everyone was already sitting together on the soft grass surrounded by the tents, chatting lively. The cheerful laughter and cool evening breeze temporarily dispelled the obscure mood.

“Want a drink?”

Tu Shanyue excitedly brought a few cans of alcohol from the bus and piled them on the picnic blanket in the center.

Luo Bian leaned back, supporting herself with one hand on the grass.

After coming ashore from the lake, her eyes had been filled with the spirit of spring, and she had a satiated look, hugging the tank with her precious ex-girlfriend and not saying a word.

The mantis shrimp in the tank was completely crimson, the color slow to fade, and was curled up tiredly in a corner.

Now, hearing talk of drinking, Luo Bian flicked her long hair and sighed blissfully, “I’m not drinking. I’m already drunk.”

This look of having secretly eaten her fill and now smugly showing off made the other small animals sour.

“There are zero beasts here who asked you,” Tu Shanyue said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Suddenly, a click came from the corner, followed by the sound of someone drinking heartily.

Ye Qingyu followed the sound and saw that Wu Shu had already finished a can of alcohol, and the empty can was easily crushed into a crumpled ball in her hand.

As expected of a fitness enthusiast, her grip was amazing.

“Hey, Panther, don’t be in such a hurry to drink,” Tu Shanyue quickly said. “You have to play the game first before you can drink.”

“What game?” Wu Shu looked up, her jade-green eyes dark.

Tu Shanyue thought for a moment. “Let’s play ‘What Animal Are You?’ Everyone needs to set an animal species for themselves, and then we’ll count starting from 1.”

“If we count to the same number, we have to immediately say the other person’s set animal species. If you say it wrong, don’t say it, or say it too slowly, you have to accept the punishment of drinking.”

“Okay,” Gu Yue said enthusiastically. “Then I’ll be a goose.”

Jin Can thought for a moment. “I’m a rabbit.”

Pei the Red Panda lifted her chin proudly. “I’ll be a red panda.”

The moment she said this, the other beasts all tried to persuade her to change. “Sister Rong, you’ll lose badly if you set it like that. Who doesn’t know you’re a red panda?”

Ye Qingyu was stunned. Only then did she realize that it wasn’t just her who was modeling her beautiful boss after a red panda.

Everyone around Boss Pei was modeling her after a red panda.

—As expected, she was just too similar.

Under everyone’s persuasion, Pei the Red Panda’s ears twitched in conflict, but in the end, she chose not to waver. “I’ll be a red panda.”

She walked the world as an upright red panda.

She would not change, not even if the sky fell. Absolutely not!

After everyone had set their own animal, it was Ye Qingyu’s turn, and she hesitated for a moment.

Normally, she would have chosen her favorite red panda without hesitation, but now Boss Pei already was one.

After a few seconds of thought, she said casually, “Then I’ll be a deer…”

Before she could finish, she felt a burning gaze shoot toward her from the side.

“Ye Qingyu, you’ll be a red panda,” Pei the Red Panda said unhappily, her whole being suddenly drooping.

This fickle human, so she likes deer too? If not for this game, I would never have known.

Pei the Red Panda’s heart was bubbling with sourness.

Ye Qingyu was slightly stunned and asked, “Then what about you?”

Pei the Red Panda snorted coldly and turned her head away, unwilling to look at her. “I’ll be a puppy.”

“Well, well, didn’t a certain “Pei Capable One” just say she would be a red panda no matter what?”

Tu Shanyue immediately began to tease.

Pei the Red Panda’s pink lips parted slightly, revealing the tips of her sharp canines.

She was completely sullen.

A thought struck Ye Qingyu, and she somewhat understood why her beautiful boss was suddenly unhappy.

—Does she think that I, her fellow fan, also like deer, and am not devoted to red pandas?

With a sudden enlightenment, she explained, “The only thing I wanted to set in my heart was a red panda, but Boss Pei already was one, so I just randomly chose another animal. Anyway, besides red pandas, all the others are the same.”

Pei the Red Panda’s ears twitched slightly.

These words made sense and were quite pleasing to the ear. She was grudgingly willing to turn her head and glance at the human. “Really?”

“Really,” the human nodded, her clear, gentle eyes full of sincerity.

Only then did Pei the Red Panda feel a little more comfortable.

And the human immediately followed up by feeding her fruit, completely coaxing her.

Over here, the small animals had already set their respective animal species, and the game officially began.

Tu Shanyue said, “Count off!”

Jin Can: “One!”

Luo Bian, Gu Yue: “Two!”

The two beasts paused, their fingers trembling as they pointed at each other, their minds racing.

Gu Yue: “…You’re a mantis shrimp!”

Luo Bian: “…You’re a pelican!”

“Wrong, wrong,” Tu Shanyue said, exasperated. “You have to say the animal species you just set. Gu Yue is a big goose, and Luo Bian is a tilapia.”

Gu Yue and Luo Bian sheepishly drank a glass of alcohol each.

“Again. Count off!”

With the referee’s command, the game started up again.

Ye Qingyu, Pei the Red Panda: “One!”

The two immediately looked at each other.

Ye Qingyu reacted extremely quickly, and the word “puppy” had already surfaced in her mind.

But looking at her beautiful boss’s fluffy, reddish-brown curls framing her cheeks, her stunning yet somewhat cute features, the words on her lips inexplicably became:

“You’re a red panda!”

The words on Pei the Red Panda’s lips also inexplicably paused.

She blinked her peach blossom eyes, and dazedly said, “Mhm,” and nodded.

“…”

Tu Shanyue put her head in her hands.

“Playing a game with you all is giving me a headache.”

She collapsed onto Liu Mian’s shoulder and commanded the human and the red panda weakly, “Drink. You two idiots, hurry up and drink.”

Pei the Red Panda had tasted the power of alcohol at Ye Qingyu’s place last time.

After just two glasses, her ears and tail had uncontrollably popped out.

And the drunken Ye the Little Tree had been so audacious, wantonly kneading and playing with her furry ears, not stopping even when told to.

But the fruit wine in her hand smelled so sweet.

She took a small sip, and her peach blossom eyes lit up. She couldn’t help but down it all.

Ye Qingyu also tilted her head back and finished the small glass in one go, feeling that this wine was not low in alcohol content.

But it was a rare chance to go out and have fun together. There was no reason not to have a good time.

The game went on for round after round. Everyone was laughing and playing, and they all drank a lot.

The picnic blanket was gradually piled high with empty fruit wine cans, and the whole grassy area was filled with the rich aroma of fruit wine.

Without realizing it, dusk, along with the deep night, had completely soaked the entire Yuqi Lake area.

After a moment, the wind blew the clouds away, and a gentle, clear white moonlight spread out, dispelling the deep blackness.

The outlines of the humans and beasts on the grass were sketched by the flowing light, as hazy as a divine revelation.

A fox couldn’t help but transform into her original form and staggered on the grass, her alluring large tail wrapping around Doctor Liu’s waist.

A Golden Retriever lay limply on the picnic blanket, rubbing its fluffy head, a pitiful puppy whimper coming from its throat. “Ooh, Jiejie, I want more head pats.”

A pelican, in its sleep, its large beak half-open, mumbled aggrievedly, “I just wanted to clamp it a little. What’s wrong with clamping it a little…”

The next second, she suddenly rolled over, her wings flapping so hard that two feathers fell off, and she cried, “Don’t peck me!”

…

The human, lying on the ground, was also so drunk she didn’t know what day it was.

Her head throbbed, her memory and consciousness as messy as if they had been vigorously kneaded.

And so, the flat, open grassy area around her seemed to have suddenly raised high walls, and the place where she was seemed to have become the small but warm bedroom of her youth.

And the sound of the pelican’s crying next to her was like a persistent alarm clock. Ye Qingyu’s eyes suddenly flew open, and she shot up from the ground.

I have to get up for school, I’m going to be late…

She slapped her hand to the side and, with practiced ease, turned off the alarm clock on her bedside table.

The pelican, suddenly slapped, closed its beak and was silent in its dream for a few seconds, then muttered aggrievedly, “Goose, why did you hit my face…”

Ye Qingyu’s eyes were misty with drink. She picked up the Pei the Red Panda that had collapsed limply into her arms.

She reluctantly rubbed her head and gave a precious “smack” on her furry ear, muttering words she herself didn’t understand:

“Neng Bao, how about I take you to school today…”

Pei the Red Panda was so drunk that her peach blossom eyes and cheeks were both red, and her furry ears and tail had also popped out. Her chaotic memories and reality were churned together, and for some reason, she managed to connect with the signal.

For a moment, it was as if time and space had intertwined, and a distant childhood memory was projected onto this moment.

She slipped her hand into Ye Qingyu’s palm and answered softly:

“Then put me in your schoolbag, and pet me during class.”

“Mhm, mhm, we can’t let my classmates find out…” Ye Qingyu said.

And so, Pei the Red Panda was stumbled and pulled up by the human’s hand, and then was carried on her back like a little red panda schoolbag.

She lay limply on the young woman’s shoulder, her large, fluffy tail swinging up and down in the air, muttering her demands:

“You have to buy me apples after school, and don’t tell Mom…”

Ye Qingyu forcefully pushed open the bedroom door, and Luo Bian, who had just drunkenly and fumblingly stood up, was pushed and collapsed limply on the grass.

“…I’ll give all my allowance to Neng Bao to buy food.”

The human, holding onto a tree, walked unsteadily, indistinctly promising the little red panda on her back.

The moonlight illuminated the limp, intertwined figures of the human and the “Little Capable One”.

No one noticed that in a corner, a black panther, dead drunk, was randomly clawing at the turf.

The top carnivore was burying its head and gnawing on the grass, crunching away with relish.

T/N: Well, I decided to keep the nickname as Neng Bao. As I explained before, neng means something like ‘capable,’ and bao can mean “baby” or “treasure”