Chapter 62
Leaving the bookstore, Ye Zhao went straight to the “A Leaf’s Taste” restaurant next to the mall.
She took the elevator to the top floor and pushed open the door of the private room at the end, only to see a woman already waiting by the table.
“Jiejie.”
Xiao Yu looked up and smiled lightly at her.
“Mhm.”
Ye Zhao unhurriedly closed the door, her eyes unconsciously meeting Xiao Yu’s.
In their circle, the name “Xiao Yu” made many people shudder.
As the completely ignored daughter of the Xiao family, she had been unobtrusive since she was little, quietly lying in wait for a long time.
Later, when no one had expected it, she had appeared out of nowhere, each move fatal. She had stepped on the heads of her brothers to climb up, purged the Xiao family from top to bottom, and completely claimed it as her own.
And this woman, who was rumored in their circle to be a demon, was now sitting properly at the table.
She was wearing a casual suit as white as snow, which made her look noble and otherworldly.
Her features were as bright and beautiful as a painting, and her every move showed the charming style of a mature woman.
“You’re so early.”
Ye Zhao placed the book bag on the side and casually sat down opposite Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu stared at Ye Zhao without a moment’s pause. Her slender fingers tapped lightly on the table, and she smiled.
“If I were a second later than you, I would miss a second of being with you. I can’t afford that risk.”
Ye Zhao’s gaze flickered slightly. She lowered her head and leisurely took a sip of tea, her tone still one of nonchalance. “Risk? I’ve heard that CEO Xiao is bold and fearless in her actions, and often makes big gambles when making decisions.”
Xiao Yu blinked her eyes lightly and said seriously, word by word:
“When I can’t afford to lose, of course I’ll be afraid.”
This directness made Ye Zhao’s breath catch, and her earlobes were stained a cherry pink.
Her fingertips gently caressed the teacup, and she said with a certain helplessness, “Let’s talk business.”
“Okay.”
A smile rippled in Xiao Yu’s eyes, and she quickly restrained it, becoming serious as she was told.
She handed a stack of documents to Ye Zhao and said, “All the information I could find is in here.”
Ye Zhao took it and, lowering her eyes, quickly browsed through the documents.
The words and sentences on the paper were clear and concise, all key points.
“While I was investigating, I found that two other people have also been investigating this organization recently.”
Hearing this, Ye Zhao’s gaze froze slightly, and she looked up thoughtfully.
Xiao Yu handed over two more personal files.
“One is Bai Zhiwan, a Chinese national from a neighboring country, and the head of the Bai family. I had some dealings with her a few years ago.”
“The other is Lin Song, the captain of the animal division of the B-City Public Security Bureau.”
Hearing this, Ye Zhao said with deep meaning, “These two don’t sound like simple characters, to leave traces when investigating.”
Xiao Yu said, “Whether it was intentional or not, we’ll know when we meet them.”
Ye Zhao raised an eyebrow lightly.
This person was indeed very compatible with her, always easily understanding her thoughts.
After talking business, Ye Zhao put away the documents she had browsed and softened her tone. “Thank you for your hard work. I had expected it to take a week, but I didn’t expect you to finish in just two short days. You didn’t stay up all night, did you?”
She paused and said, “I’ve said it before, if you don’t have enough time, you can take it slow. There’s no need to overwork yourself.”
“If Jiejie wanted to investigate these matters, she has a thousand reliable channels at her disposal,” Xiao Yu said softly. “But you chose to come to me.”
Ye Zhao’s breath hitched slightly.
Her thoughts had been suddenly exposed, and she was rarely flustered.
Xiao Yu continued, “So, I wanted to seize the opportunity, to make you feel that I am very useful, and that you’ll want to use me again next time.”
Ye Zhao’s heart stirred. She looked up at the woman opposite her and met the sincere wish in her eyes.
***
Luo Bian only woke up in the afternoon.
After washing up, she hummed a song and cleaned up the living room of the small building, which was as messy as if it had been ravaged by a plague of locusts.
A certain culprit was still in a deep sleep, and she estimated that she wouldn’t wake up for a while.
Luo Bian looked through the tank for a moment, then reluctantly took her car keys and went out alone to buy today’s ingredients.
She didn’t call Ye Qingyu.
After all, her colleagues had all stayed up late and worried about her family matters last night. It was only right that she did a little more.
The little shrimp was in an excellent mood. Her hands skillfully drove the tricycle, a lollipop in her mouth, leisurely savoring the sweet taste.
She first went to the shopping mall to buy daily necessities, clothes, and some toys for her ex-girlfriend, then went to the market to buy fresh ingredients.
It was already evening when she returned. The mantis shrimp in the tank was gently paddling its legs.
Luo Bian’s eyes lit up.
—She’s finally awake.
She plopped into the water and, flicking her shrimp tail, swam to her ex-girlfriend.
She carefully extended a long claw, about to tentatively poke her, but the long claw was immediately entangled by her ex-girlfriend’s legs.
“…” Luo Bian was slightly stunned.
The next second, she saw her ex-girlfriend take the initiative to press against her, her movements with an unprecedented enthusiasm.
The shrimp of her heart was suddenly so clingy. Luo Bian’s heart was about to melt.
Without time to think about the reason, she was soon completely lost.
They hadn’t spoken for several days. This was a case of absence making the heart grow fonder.
Their feelings were deep, their love surging.
The clear water in the tank rippled, and the surface of the water spread with layers of ambiguous ripples.
The shrimp in front of her curled slightly, and her light-blue shrimp body gradually flushed a beautiful crimson, her whole body trembling as she threw herself into it.
At the most critical moment, Luo Bian was about to send the shrimp in her arms to the clouds, but she suddenly felt the space before her go empty—
Splash—
Water splashed everywhere. It was the little shrimp, suddenly leaping out of the water, uncontrollably transforming into her human form.
She landed squarely on the soft, large bed.
“…”
Her emotions were at their peak. Luo Bian, in a daze, paddled her legs, guarding the empty tank alone.
A few seconds later, she managed to come to her senses, leaped out, and transformed.
Arriving at the bedside, she saw her human-form ex-girlfriend lying on her back on the bed, her long hair dripping wet and clustered at her neck.
Her beautiful, otherworldly face was covered in a bewitching and moving crimson, her teeth helplessly biting her lip.
At the critical moment, she had been just a little short of being able to release, but the feeling had come to an abrupt halt.
She was so tormented that her whole body was uncomfortable.
But she couldn’t speak, only a pair of pitiful, teary, misty eyes, panting as she looked at Luo Bian.
Reading the request in her ex-girlfriend’s eyes, Luo Bian’s heart trembled, and she was at a loss.
What… what should I do to give it to her?
As a shrimp, she was highly skilled and knew all the ways to please her ex-girlfriend.
As a human, she was a complete novice with a blank slate of knowledge!
“…Mmm.”
After waiting for a long time, her ex-girlfriend became more and more uncomfortable, and a faint sound even escaped her throat.
She unconsciously and instinctively lifted her legs and haphazardly rubbed against Luo Bian’s waist.
This feeling of being neither here nor there was truly an unbearable torture.
If she were in her shrimp form, she would have long since been unable to control herself and would have whipped Luo Bian with her large shrimp tail.
But now, her human’s devolved tailbone was attached to her buttocks, completely useless.
“Ooh…”
A low whimper escaped her throat, and her body trembled. At her wit’s end, she haphazardly moved her limbs and lifted her leg high—
The tip of her jade-white foot pressed firmly on Luo Bian’s cheek.
Luo Bian was a little dazed from being stepped on.
The next second, she realized this was the transformed version of “whipping with a shrimp tail,” and her eyes suddenly lit up. She enthusiastically offered her other cheek.
“And this side?”
…
Pei the Red Panda walked into the bedroom and saw Ye Qingyu sit up straight, a red panda doll in her hand.
Her steps paused, and her breathing hitched unconsciously.
“I just found this doll had rolled onto the floor.”
Ye Qingyu looked at her beautiful boss and explained.
She raised a hand to pat the dust off the doll, feeling a little guilty.
Ever since she had taken the furred boss home, she had been hugging the real red panda to sleep every day and had gradually forgotten this precious doll.
When she found it today, it was already dusty.
This was the first gift Boss Pei had given her, and it had a special meaning.
With this thought, she patted the doll’s head. “I should take it to be washed and dried.”
Noticing the woman standing in a daze at the door, Ye Qingyu couldn’t help but look up. “Boss Pei?”
“Mhm,” Pei the Red Panda blinked her eyes, her heart relaxing slightly.
Just now, when Ye Qingyu had patted and petted the doll, she hadn’t felt a corresponding sensation at all.
Although she didn’t know what was going on, at least for now, she didn’t have to worry about being rubbed until fireworks went off.
As she was thinking, she followed Ye Qingyu into the bathroom and watched the human wash the doll.
To make it easier, Ye Qingyu casually tied her long, black hair into a high ponytail, revealing her fair and slender neck.
A few strands of hair fell to the side of her cheek, looking very gentle and domestic.
Pei the Red Panda crossed her arms and leaned lazily against the wall on the side.
Her gaze leisurely traced from the human’s lovely profile to her neck, and finally landed on the red panda doll, which was covered in bubbles.
The young woman’s well-defined, slender, and beautiful hands were carefully rubbing the red panda doll’s fur.
Up and down, not a spot was missed, meticulously and gently.
The scene was pleasing to the eye.
But as Pei the Red Panda watched, a strange, sour bubble gradually rose in her heart.
The young woman’s movements were a little too practiced.
Her fingers first circled the top of the red panda doll’s head, then made bubbles on its belly, and then every single paw was taken care of…
It was as if… she had often bathed a red panda before.
With this thought, Pei the Red Panda’s red lips opened and closed, and her tone was a little sullen.
“Ye Qingyu, have you ever washed a red panda before?”
Ye Qingyu’s doll-washing movements paused.
She turned her head and met her beautiful boss’s sullen peach blossom eyes.
Her heart trembled slightly, and she felt a sense of being wronged.
Besides this Pei the Red Panda, what other red panda did she know, let alone have bathed?
“Never,” she said.
Pei the Red Panda stared at her, her thick lashes fluttering lightly, as if trying to discern the truth.
Seeing that the red panda was still a little melancholic and concerned, Ye Qingyu pursed her lips, a faint itch spreading at the tip of her heart.
She enjoyed the other’s domineering possessiveness, even if it seemed unreasonable, even if this possessiveness might have nothing to do with romance.
She raised her hand, which was still covered in white foam, and held up four fingers in an oath, her eyes sincere.
“I have absolutely never washed a red panda before.”
The human’s tone was certain, her words firm.
However, the moment this oath was made, a fair clap of thunder suddenly sounded from outside the window.
“—BOOM.”
Pei the Red Panda trembled instinctively.
The thunder was short and light, and the sky immediately returned to silence.
She quickly came back to her senses, her peach blossom eyes showing a certain astonishment.
“Ye Qingyu, it thundered right after you made your oath.”
The little red panda, who had been surfing the internet at high speed, knew the relationship between “being struck by lightning” and oaths, so not only was she not coaxed, but now she was even more unhappy.
Her red lips parted slightly, revealing the tips of her sharp canines.
Ye Qingyu: “…”
The heavens were truly not on her side.
She looked at her beautiful boss with a certain innocence, for a moment at a loss for words.
She wanted to find a way to clear her name, but she saw Pei the Red Panda lick the tip of her teeth and say with an air of imperiousness:
“Stop washing the doll. You’ll start washing me now.”
“…Ah?”
Ye Qingyu was slightly stunned. She was holding the doll and didn’t react for a moment.
The next second, Pei Rong transformed into a red panda.
She lifted her large tail and leaped lightly into the human’s arms.
She haphazardly pushed away the wet doll and took its place.
She lifted her fluffy head, which was covered in a ball of white foam, and raised a paw to urge the human’s hand.
“Continue.”
