All My Colleagues Are Animals 75

Chapter 75

Early morning.

After a deep and sweet sleep from being drunk, Pei the Red Panda finally woke up in a daze.

The embrace was extremely familiar, and it made the ‘Neng’ feel very much at ease.

She closed her eyes and, instinctively, alternately lifted and pressed her two furry paws, slowly kneading on the woman’s left and right shoulders.

Ye Zhao was disturbed and her lashes fluttered. She slowly opened her eyes.

She looked down at the red panda on her and found that this Rong Bao was actually kneading.

The corners of her lips curled up slightly, and a long-lost feeling of waking up with a heart full of happiness arose.

She raised her hand and, with practiced ease, smoothed Rong Bao’s fur from head to tail, and the mother and daughter quietly enjoyed this comfort.

Pei the Red Panda was so comfortable from being soothed that she couldn’t help but let out a soft “ying.”

She stretched her paws and then continued to knead for several more minutes.

It wasn’t until her consciousness gradually returned that a certain little red panda belatedly realized.

Whose embrace is this…?

The kneading paused.

Pei the Red Panda’s eyes suddenly flew open, and she met the woman’s gentle, water-like gaze.

“…”

Pei the Red Panda’s large, fluffy tail unconsciously lifted slightly.

After a brief, stunned moment, her mood was a mix of emotions.

Confusion, loss, melancholy, and relaxation, pleasure, and softness were intertwined, giving rise to a rather inexplicable thought:

If, if only Ms. Ye were also my, a little panda’s, mother…

No, that’s not right, that can’t be.

Still, that saying, a good beast does not steal a mother.

According to the internet, this person was clearly her mother-in-law.

Pei the Red Panda extended her pink tongue and licked the tips of her white canines.

She decided to show Ms. Ye a red panda’s mature politeness and propriety, wanting to say “Good morning, CEO Ye.”

But due to her not-yet-fully-awake brain after a deep sleep, she raised her fluffy paw and, as she spoke, said:

“Good morning, Mother-in-law.”

“…”

Ye Zhao’s pupils trembled.

“…”

Next to her, Ye Qingyu, who had been awake for a long time and was watching her mother and Neng Bao interact with a soft heart, her breath hitched.

“…”

Pei the Red Panda blinked her eyes, and her bow-tie ears drooped innocently.

Three words, and the whole family of three was silenced.

But the little red panda had no bad intentions. She had just randomly learned a new word on the internet.

Ms. Ye came back to her senses, took a deep breath, and answered with a smile:

“Good morning.”

Ye Qingyu couldn’t help but laugh.

She reached out her hand and took Pei the Red Panda from her mother’s arms into her own.

She raised her hand to rub the innocent little beast and, lowering her head, took a few light sniffs of that soft and glutinous, cute head.

A fragrant and fluffy Pei the Red Panda—you’d have to sniff one to know.

A small patch of the fur on Pei the Red Panda’s head was flattened from being sniffed.

It wasn’t until she let out a soft “ying” that the human reluctantly let go.

Remembering something, Ye Qingyu took out her phone and looked at the time. “It’s almost time for work.”

“We’re on paid leave today.”

Pei the Red Panda waved her paw with a grand air.

Wanting to take out her phone to send a notice of leave, a thought struck her, and she transformed into her human form in Ye Qingyu’s arms.

Only then did she belatedly realize that Ms. Ye knew her beast identity.

It doesn’t matter. Ms. Ye is family.

Pei the Red Panda had a big heart and a fluffy body. She contentedly nestled on Ye the Little Tree and typed a message in the studio’s WeChat group:

[We’re on a paid day off today. Everyone, rest well.]

At the same time, next to her, Ms. Ye calmed herself and also picked up her phone, which she had not looked at in a long time.

[Xiao Yu:] Congratulations, Jiejie, on regaining the completeness of a family of three.

Her fingertips caressed the side of her phone, and she curled her lips slightly.

She typed an edit, her words full of deep meaning: [Perhaps it could be a family of four.]

A reply came quickly.

[口:] Mhm.

Ye Zhao’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

She had not set a remark for Xiao Yu, so the word at the top of the chat box was that person’s WeChat name.

Really…

Ye Zhao bit her lip.

***

Ms. Ye got up first and went back to her room to wash up.

And so, only the human and the red panda were left on the large bed.

Messages were quickly jumping in the WeChat group, and the chat was on fire.

Pei the Red Panda was typing on her screen when she suddenly felt the arm around her waist tighten.

She was slightly stunned, and her phone accidentally slipped from her fingertips and fell onto the bed.

Immediately after, a soft caress came from her neck. It was the young woman’s fingertips, gently stroking her skin.

Pei Rong’s breath hitched.

She looked up and, caught off guard, met Ye Qingyu’s complicated gaze.

It was a mix of affection, pain, and cherish, damp and soft.

After a long period of fermentation, it had a certain unspeakable richness and depth.

Pei Rong’s heart skipped a beat at the sight.

For a moment, her lips parted slightly, and she was speechless.

After a moment of looking at each other, she finally came back to her senses and said softly:

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

Ye Qingyu pursed her lips.

The little red panda, who had been spoiled rotten before, who would just extend a paw for fruit and open her mouth for bamboo shoots, what had she gone through these past ten years to have gradually become the Velvet Bamboo Studio boss of today, to have become a big sister beast who carefully protected everyone?

She took a light breath, and as her heart surged, her voice was a little hoarse when she spoke.

“Boss Pei, before… how was your life?”

Pei the Red Panda blinked her peach blossom eyes.

Then she curled her lips in pleasure. The human was feeling sorry for her, a little panda.

“…It was fine.”

She lay lazily on Ye Qingyu, her fingertips petulantly and haphazardly squeezing between the young woman’s fingers, in a gesture of wanting to hold hands.

“Anyway, all of us small animals who can transform have been through it.”

Her tone was relaxed and at ease, downplaying the past.

But, this little red panda could have clearly not suffered at all.

“I want to hold hands,” she urged lazily.

Ye Qingyu’s fingertips moved slightly, and she held the woman’s hand tightly, their fingers interlocking, and the red panda contentedly nuzzled her head.

But the more easily satisfied the little beast in her arms was, the deeper and more melancholic her breathing became.

That organization, those people, back then—not a single one of them could have a good end.

A death that was not miserable enough would not be enough to dispel the hatred in her heart.

…

After washing up, the family of three had breakfast together.

On Pei the Red Panda’s plate were six tender bamboo shoot tips, six new bamboo leaves, half a cut-up sweet apple, and a peeled and plump mangosteen.

A very satisfying combination for a red panda.

During breakfast, the clear and bright sky outside the window had become gloomy, and thick black clouds were pressing down, as if it were night.

Ye Zhao turned on the light and asked, as if unintentionally:

“It looks like it’s going to rain heavily. Are you two planning to go back today?”

Under the warm yellow light, the hint of wanting them to stay in her eyes was tinged with a gentle color.

Ye Qingyu looked at Pei the Red Panda. “The road is dangerous. Why don’t we just stay here today?”

Pei the Red Panda had kneaded and been soothed by Ms. Ye this morning and did not feel any resistance at all.

Now, being proposed to stay at Ms. Ye’s house, she naturally had no objections, and even a certain pleasure appeared in her peach blossom eyes. “Okay.”

Ye Zhao chuckled lightly.

“Then you two go and sit on the sofa. Mom will put on the TV for you.”

She took out some rather old cartoon DVDs from the TV cabinet, opened the DVD player, and skillfully fiddled with the TV.

Ye Qingyu led her beautiful boss to the sofa, but the red panda’s feet suddenly paused.

The woman pointed to the sofa, which was clearly marked with claw marks, and her tone was quite righteous:

“Huh? Such a beautiful sofa. How did half of it get scratched?”

Ye Qingyu turned her head. “…”

The Ms. Ye who was tuning the TV turned her head. “…”

Being looked at by two people with a half-smile, Pei the Red Panda blinked her peach blossom eyes, not understanding.

Why are they all looking at her?

She is not that kind of red panda.

Pei the Red Panda proudly and lightly licked the tip of her teeth.

Ye Qingyu: “Mom, where are the nail clippers?”

Ye Zhao understood. “In the drawer in front of you.”

After a round of “click-clack,” Pei the Red Panda had once again become Pei the Little Able Cat, and her whole being was well-behaved.

The human and the red panda sat down on the half of the sofa that had not been scratched, and on the large screen in front, a scene from “Tom and Jerry” appeared.

This was the cartoon they had loved to watch the most when they were little.

The TV back then was much smaller than now, and the picture was not in high definition.

At night, Ye the Little Sprout would lie in a children’s rocking chair, and the red panda would be riding a rocking horse on the side.

The human and the little red panda would sway back and forth at the same frequency, contentedly, and would watch “Tom and Jerry” with great concentration.

As the scene of chasing on the TV became more and more intense, they would unconsciously become more nervous, and the swaying would become wider and wider.

In their excitement, they would even turn the rocking chair and the rocking horse into a pirate ship.

Once, Ms. Ye had passed by the living room and had happened to see the scene of the human and the little red panda falling over, their eyes filled with tears.

She had sighed and had picked them up from the ground one by one, and had patted the dust from the two cubs’ bottoms.

…

Ye Qingyu came back to her senses from her memories and saw that a rather familiar old-fashioned wooden horse had appeared in the living room.

Except for the slightly mottled paint, the whole thing did not look old, but like an old object that had been meticulously maintained for many years.

Ye Zhao looked up by the wooden horse and chuckled lightly at Ye Qingyu.

“Your rocking chair is still here, but you can’t sit in it anymore.”

Ye Qingyu looked at her, and her heart suddenly felt sore.

Pei the Little Able Cat tilted her head slightly. “Is this for me to play with?”

“Yes,” Ye Zhao asked gently. “Would you like to try it?”

Pei the Little Able Cat nodded.

She transformed into a red panda and easily sat on it.

She held the handles with both paws and swayed back and forth lazily, and her springy, fluffy ears swayed with the movement, which was extremely cute.

On the front, “Tom and Jerry” was in full swing, and Pei the Little Able Cat was mesmerized by it.

In her nervousness, she unconsciously began to rock the wooden horse faster and faster, and the arc also became wider and wider.

In her intoxication, she for a moment forgot who she was and where she was.

The dark clouds that covered the sky outside the window placed her in a distant summer night, and the familiar cartoon scene in front, and the simple rocking horse under her, for a moment, made her a fluffy cub.

She was carefree and doted on, and was watching TV with an intimate human cub…

“Ying—”

Suddenly, the ‘Neng’ and the horse fell over.

Ye Zhao, who was nearby, was quick and skillfully picked up Pei the Little Able Cat, and subconsciously patted the non-existent dust from her bottom.

Pei the Little Able Cat swayed in the air and met Ms. Ye’s gaze, her eyes dazed for a moment.

Her bottom was slightly numb, and she helplessly hugged her large, fluffy tail.

Ye Zhao suddenly reacted.

The child was grown up. She could no longer be held like this, let alone have her bottom patted.

Where would the usually proud little red panda hide her face?

And so, before the red panda could come to her senses, Ye Zhao gently pulled her tail out from her four paws and put it back behind her, and then put her whole body into Ye Qingyu’s arms.

Ye Qingyu held the red panda tightly and quickly fed her a piece of apple.

The mother and daughter’s series of actions was as smooth as flowing water.

“Crunch.”

Pei the Little Able Cat had just been in a strange, dreamlike scene and experience, and when she came back to her senses, she found that she was chewing on a sweet apple, so she did not realize that she had just fallen over and had her bottom patted, and had lost a series of faces.

She swallowed the apple and commented with pleasure:

“Sweet.”

The human mother and daughter both breathed a sigh of relief.