All My Colleagues Are Animals 69

Chapter 69

A long, bright day, with vibrant greenery.

Summer seemed to be approaching.

The red panda on the scholar tree was so hot she had melted into a soft, limp pancake of fur and couldn’t help but stick out her tongue to pant.

Later, she leaped lightly onto the grass, waved her paw to bid farewell to her precious scholar tree, and prepared to go and enjoy the air-conditioned room.

And so, after returning from shopping, Ye Qingyu did not see her furred boss in the backyard.

She did, however, run into Wu Shu swimming in the pool.

The bright sun shone through the gaps in the leaves, scattering a shimmering halo on the water, outlining the young woman’s smooth and graceful swimming form.

Splash—

Wu Shu came out of the water, picked up a bath towel to dry her hair, her muscle lines firm and beautiful.

Ye Qingyu was thoughtful.

In the morning, when she had been cutting apple slices for the red panda in the kitchen, she had passed by the gym and had seen Wu Shu working out.

Her light-colored T-shirt was soaked with sweat, and her jet-black hair was also dripping wet. It seemed this workout had been quite intense.

Unexpectedly, after her workout, she had come to swim with such vigor.

As if she were using exercise to carry her gloomy emotions.

Or… some kind of active preparation.

Ye Qingyu did not want to disturb her and was about to turn and leave when she suddenly heard Wu Shu’s voice from behind her. “Ye Qingyu.”

“Hm?” Ye Qingyu stopped.

The panther walked up to her, her whole body dripping with water, and her pair of jade-green eyes looked sharp and mysterious. “Do you know how to wear colored contacts?”

Humans had designed colored contacts to be too difficult to wear.

Wu Shu had struggled for an hour and had wasted six pairs, but still couldn’t put them on.

She paused and, trying to cover it up, said, “I was just bored and suddenly wanted to play around.”

Ye Qingyu blinked her eyes lightly and, considerately, did not ask any more questions.

“I do. After you’ve cleaned up and changed, send me a message, and I’ll come and teach you.”

The human and the panther reached an agreement.

Having just been out shopping, Ye Qingyu returned to the small building and first went to rinse herself off.

She changed into a spare set of clothes, making sure she was clean and fresh.

Then she came to the door of the boss’s office and knocked lightly, hearing a lazy “Come in” from inside.

Pushing the door open, Ye Qingyu felt a blast of cold air, as if she had entered a cold storage room.

She looked up at the air conditioner; it was set to 16 degrees.

And her furred boss was contentedly lying on a rocking chair, enjoying the coolness, flicking her large tail from time to time to play.

Red pandas usually live in high-altitude areas. Their thick fur is quite resistant to cold but cannot tolerate hotter weather.

“Ye Qingyu, what took you so long to come find me?”

Pei the Red Panda turned her head and extended her two furry paws to the human.

“I went to take a shower.”

The temperature was too low, and Ye Qingyu felt a little cold.

She walked over, supported the red panda under its armpits with both hands, and easily picked her up.

She lay down on the rocking chair herself and then placed the entire red panda on top of her.

So warm.

A red panda blanket—you’d have to wear one to know.

Pei the Red Panda comfortably lay on the human, enjoying the gentle petting.

The just-showered human was covered in a fresh and subtle fragrance. She couldn’t help but cling to the other’s shoulders with her paws, lift her fluffy head, and take a light bite of that delicate chin.

The little beast’s teeth left two small, round indentations.

Ye Qingyu let her bite and just couldn’t help but smile, her eyes curving. “It’s a little itchy.”

“Mmm.”

Pei the Red Panda did not let her go and restlessly nuzzled and moved around. Controlling the force of her teeth, she bit the rounded earlobe, and then gnawed on the fair neck, taking liberties everywhere.

It didn’t hurt, but it seemed to be getting more and more itchy.

That itch shot through Ye Qingyu’s heart, stirring up a surging heat, and a certain desire began to roar.

She gradually became unable to bear it. She held down the red panda, who was still trying to bite her cheek, and panted lightly, “If you bite again, I won’t be able to help but want to kiss you.”

The next second, the red panda in her arms transformed into a woman.

Pei Rong looked up. “That was my intention in the first place.”

Meeting the woman’s charming peach blossom eyes, the tip of Ye Qingyu’s heart went numb.

Lying on her back, it was inconvenient for her to move.

She held the entire red panda and sat her up, her fingertips caressing the side of the woman’s delicate neck, and leaned in to gently press her lips against hers.

In the office, there was only the faint sound of the air conditioner blowing cold air, so the ambiguous sound of their lips pecking was particularly clear.

Once, and then again.

Ye Qingyu did not want to close her eyes.

And so, with every kiss, she could see the tips of the woman’s thick lashes in her arms tremble slightly, fluttering up and down, making her heart itch.

That pair of peach blossom eyes also gradually filled with a thin mist, and the crimson at the corners of her eyes overflowed, making Ye Qingyu’s breathing become more and more rapid.

It was clearly just a simple pressing of their lips together, but it was so heart-pounding.

Bzz-bzz.

The phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated.

Ye Qingyu’s unfocused gaze sharpened slightly.

It must be Wu Shu, who had finished tidying up and was looking for her to teach her how to wear colored contacts.

This was something they had agreed on beforehand, and Ye Qingyu always kept her word.

Even though the mood was so intense at this moment, she had to stop.

“Ye Qingyu?” Pei the Red Panda opened her eyes in a daze.

Ye Qingyu gently kissed her cheek, and her body pulled away slightly.

“Wu Shu wants me to teach her how to wear colored contacts. It’s probably related to her former master.”

“We agreed on it beforehand, so I have to go now. I’m sorry.”

Pei the Pei the Red Panda blinked her peach blossom eyes.

Her unsatisfied little temper had not yet flared up, but hearing that it was an important matter for the panther, she immediately let go of her anger.

“You should go.”

She lifted her chin. “Don’t be secretly sad. I’ll let you kiss my red panda next time too.”

She said it as if it wasn’t her, a little panda, who had been asking for kisses just now, but the human who had been pestering her.

Ye Qingyu was slightly stunned, and then she couldn’t help but smile and gently pinched her cheek.

“What kind of red panda are you made of, to be so cute?”

Saying such a thing, the human was clearly charmed by the red panda.

Pei the Red Panda licked the tip of her teeth, her eyes growing more and more pleased.

Ye Qingyu stood up, placed the boss, who had transformed back into a red panda, back on the rocking chair, and returned her to her original lying position.

Just as she was about to leave, she glanced at the 16-degree air conditioner, then at Pei the Red Panda’s exposed fluffy belly.

After a moment’s thought, she suddenly bent down and took the red panda’s large, fluffy tail and covered her belly with it.

Pei the Red Panda’s ears twitched slightly, and she looked at her, puzzled. “Hm?”

“You have to cover your belly button when you’re in an air-conditioned room, otherwise you’ll easily catch a cold,” the human said seriously.

Then she left, satisfied.

***

When Wu Shu walked into the work area, her pair of jet-black eyes immediately attracted the attention of all the small animals.

“Panther, how did your eyes turn black?!”

Wu Shu nodded calmly. “Just changing my eye color for fun.”

None of the small animals had ever worn colored contacts before, so they immediately and with novelty gathered around to observe, marveling for a good while before dispersing.

Sitting back down, Gu Yue continued to plant Chompers in her game.

She looked up at the panther diagonally across from her and inadvertently caught a fleeting look of loneliness in the other’s expression.

The usually carefree pelican was stunned for a moment.

She moved her hands and named a certain ordinary zombie in the game “Bai Zhiwan,” and then watched with a certain satisfaction as the Chomper clamped onto “Bai Zhiwan” and ate her.

But this satisfaction was only for a moment.

Last night at dinner, the panther had eaten a whole jin less meat than usual.

If this continued, how thin would she become?

And so, she stretched and, as if unintentionally, sighed. “It’s Friday today.”

“There are still two days until Sunday. Panther, are you really not going to go?”

“No,” Wu Shu said, lowering her eyes with certainty. “I’m not a panther who would waste my time on a bad woman.”

…

“Bird Sister?”

The interviewer looked at the ID card, then at the young woman sitting across from her.

Wu Shu: “…Mhm.”

Back then, she had just been learning Chinese characters for a short time, and when she went to apply for her ID, she had accidentally written “乌姝 (Wū Shū)” as “鸟妹 (Niǎo Mèi).”

She had only discovered this problem a while ago and had not yet gone to change it back.

Now, it just so happened that it could help her escape the bad woman’s gaze.

The interviewer sized up this interviewee named Bird Sister.

She was very beautiful. Tall and slender, with deep-set features, looking cool and aloof.

Standing next to the gentle and elegant CEO Bai, it created a visual contrast that would be a particularly good match.

She looked down at the name on the ID card and couldn’t help but sigh softly, murmuring almost imperceptibly:

“What a pity. There are two things wrong.”

But a panther’s hearing is eighteen times that of a human, so that murmur clearly reached her ears.

After just one look, you already think she has two things wrong with her?

Wu Shu’s eyes immediately narrowed, and the natural dangerous feeling of a wild beast made the interviewer’s back instinctively go cold.

“What two things are wrong?” she asked indifferently.

The interviewer met that pair of dark eyes and, for some reason, felt that her life was in danger.

Her heart trembled, and her hands were sweaty. She explained in a soft voice, “I-I’m sorry. I can’t tell you. It’s the interview rules.”

—She couldn’t possibly say that your “鸟 (Niǎ – bird)” has one more stroke than “乌 (Wū – crow),” and “妹 (Mèi – younger sister)” has one less stroke than “姝 (Shū – beautiful woman),” for a total of two things wrong, right?!

As her heart pounded, the interviewer’s slightly damp fingertips inadvertently brushed against the ID card, and she found that something had been wiped off.

A closer look revealed that the pair of black eyes in the ID photo had turned jade-green.

And on her fingertips was the ink of a black marker.

“…”

The interviewer’s brow twitched.

…

Wu Shu walked out of the interview building, her usually cool face even more gloomy.

Just now, the interviewer had told her to go home and wait for a notice.

Humans usually like to speak tactfully and euphemistically, but that interviewer had directly said that she had two things wrong. It must be that there was absolutely no chance, and she had been completely rejected.

It doesn’t matter.

Anyway, she hadn’t been thinking too much about seeing Bai Zhiwan.

It was just that last night, she had happened to pass by No. 181, Feicui Road, in the West District, and had happened to see a huge urgent recruitment poster taped to the door.

She returned to the studio and transformed into a dejected black panther, lying in a large dog bed in the recreation area.

She gradually fell asleep.

In her dream, the woman’s face was as bright as the moon, as gentle as spring water.

She had struggled out of the mud and, step by step, had unhurriedly ascended to a high position, and had moved the panther from a broken courtyard to a luxurious main residence.

Always elegant and proper, always in control.

But every night, with all her masks off, she would be tired and fragile, and would curl up in the panther’s arms to sleep, nuzzling her head against the panther’s in a half-dreaming, half-waking dependence.

But later, Bai Zhiwan’s face was still as gentle as ever.

But as her lips opened and closed, she had spoken the coldest words.

“Actually, I only wanted power and money. You have always been the most dispensable thing to me.”

Wu Shu’s chest tightened, and she suddenly opened her eyes, a dazed and painful shock in them.

She looked up and saw that her human and beast colleagues were all gathered around her, their faces full of concern.

“Panther, your phone is ringing. It’s from some ‘human interviewer’…”

Wu Shu’s heart skipped a beat.

She almost shot up, transformed into her human form, took the phone, and rushed into the bathroom to answer it.

Leaving behind a group of small animals looking at each other. “Why is the panther being so sneaky…”

…

“Hello, is this Miss Bird?”

Wu Shu was silent for a moment. “…I am. Go on.”

“This Sunday at 5 PM, please arrive on time at the Emerald Lake Villa, No. 181, Feicui Road, in the West District. Also, would it be possible for you to come over for a fitting tonight? We need your accurate body measurements to rush the production of your banquet gown.”

Wu Shu’s brow twitched slightly.

She had only applied for a wedding assistant position, and was planning to just go to the scene and take a look at that bad woman. She wasn’t even a bridesmaid. What did she need a gown for?

“Miss Bird?”

Forget it.

With one swipe of her panther’s paw, all humans would be as fragile as paper. These staff members would surely not dare to deceive her.

Wu Shu answered with an air of indifference, “Fine.”