All My Colleagues Are Animals 84p2

Chapter 84 p2

The ‘Rong Rong’ platter at “A Leaf’s Taste” was full of Pei the Little Able Cat’s favorite fruits.

Ye Qingyu had wanted to take the little red panda to the restaurant to have dinner with Ms. Ye. But seeing that the red panda was sleeping so soundly, she hadn’t had the heart to disturb her.

Coincidentally, Ye Zhao had had to go and sign some documents at the last minute, so she had simply gone to the restaurant herself to choose some fruits, make a fruit platter, and then bring it back for the red panda to eat.

The early summer weather was truly unpredictable.

When she had gone, the sky had been clear and wide, and the sunset had been like a fire;

When she came out with the fruit platter, it had already started to rain heavily.

Ye Qingyu quickly checked her phone and indeed saw an orange thunderstorm warning.

I have to go back and be with Neng Bao…

She quickly rushed toward the underground parking lot, but saw that the area in front was in a state of chaos.

“Run! There’s a large black bear eating people in the parking lot!”

A passerby shouted in alarm as he ran.

In the distance, Officer Lin, in her solemn police uniform, was leading her police officers quickly through the rain, her steps like the wind.

The crowd was urgently evacuated, and a police cordon was immediately set up, and the underground garage was temporarily sealed off.

The surrounding traffic also seemed to have been maliciously thrown into chaos, and it was at a standstill.

The road was slippery in the rain, and there had even been two rear-end collisions.

And so, for a time, Ye Qingyu could neither get her car nor get a cab, and was forced to stay at the restaurant.

The rain continued to fall, and its momentum grew stronger and stronger.

Dark clouds were surging in the sky, as if a monstrous thunderclap was brewing, and after it, a torrential downpour.

Ye Qingyu thought of the little red panda’s pitiful trembling and sleep-talking during her nap, and her heart clenched even tighter. She called Ye Zhao for help:

“Mom, it’s about to thunder. You’re very close to Velvet Bamboo Studio. Can you go over and be with Neng Bao? You can also take shelter from the rain.”

“I’m a little busy here and can’t get away for the time being.”

Ye Zhao had just come out after signing some documents with Xiao Yu. Hearing this, she immediately agreed.

“Okay. I saw the weather was changing, and I was just about to ask you.”

Ye Qingyu’s heart relaxed slightly, and she turned to call the red panda.

BOOM—

Just as the call was being made, a deafening thunderclap exploded in the sky, and the earth seemed to shake with it.

Her lashes trembled slightly, and she pursed her lips tightly.

After a torturous wait, the call was finally answered.

“Ye Qingyu.”

Pei the Little Able Cat’s voice was trembling.

Ye Qingyu quickly coaxed, “I’m here. I’ll be back soon. Don’t—”

“Don’t be afraid.”

The three words she was about to say came clearly from the other end of the line.

Ye Qingyu’s voice stopped, and for a moment, she was at a loss for words.

“Don’t be afraid,” Pei the Little Able Cat repeated.

Her voice was slightly choked, but it held a certain firm gentleness. “You find a place to hide. I’ll come and get you.”

“Don’t worry. You’re not a little beast. You definitely won’t be caught by the men in black,” the red panda murmured in a trembling voice.

Ye Qingyu was stunned for a moment, and then she reacted. The red panda must have seen the news.

She quickly comforted, “Don’t worry, I’m fine here…”

BOOM—

Another clap of thunder rang out in the sky, interrupting the call for a moment.

The little red panda was so scared that her whole body was trembling, but she struggled to suppress her breathing and said in a calm tone:

“I know you can’t get your car. And don’t take a cab alone. You’ll be taken to the zoo.”

Her pair of peach blossom eyes were moist. “Ye Qingyu, just be good and wait for me there, okay? Don’t be afraid. I’ll come and get you.”

“…”

Ye Qingyu’s heart was beating extremely fast, and a scorching heat was pounding in her chest.

She had had a thousand questions and worries to say, but at this moment, she held them back.

—The little red panda, who had repeatedly been in danger and had tasted the helplessness of it, was she trying to save her now?

Saving her, and at the same time, saving the dazed and helpless self of several years ago.

She listened to the rapid breathing on the other end, and her eyes drooped slightly, and a mist of tears silently appeared before them.

In the end, she said meekly, “Mhm, I’ll wait for you to come and get me.”

Pei Rong curled her moist lips slightly and haphazardly wiped away the clear tears from her cheeks.

…

On a thunderstormy day, taxis were in short supply.

Pei the Little Able Cat was anxious. She fumbled on her phone for a moment and finally, with a trembling fingertip, managed to get a car.

She took a deep breath and swallowed the trembling in her throat.

She had already been taken to the zoo once and had experience. This time, she would definitely not be taken again.

Even if she was so unlucky as to be caught by bad people again, she had experience in escaping and would not be so afraid.

In short, no matter what, she absolutely could not let Ye Qingyu fall into that situation.

It would be very hungry and very painful.

Ye Qingyu, a beautiful and fresh, and gentle and kind little tree, was absolutely not suitable for experiencing those things.

Pei the Little Able Cat’s thoughts surged. She repeatedly took deep breaths and stood alone at the entrance of the small building, waiting.

Lightning would still flash in the sky from time to time, accompanied by the faint rumble of thunder.

With every flash, her whole body would tremble, and the pitiful whimper in her throat was drowned out by the tide of rain.

Soon, a gray sedan drove up from the end of the alley and stopped in front of her.

It looked like a dangerous beast, lurking in the dark night.

Pei the Little Able Cat pursed her lips, and her legs felt a little weak.

The rain was falling hard and fast, pattering on the surface of her umbrella, just like her heartbeat.

No, she couldn’t show fear.

Otherwise, the human would think that she, a little panda, was easy to bully and suitable for being taken to the zoo.

She sniffled, her peach blossom eyes brimming with tears.

She struggled to lift her head as proudly and spiritedly as usual, to make the driver think that she, a little panda, was not to be trifled with.

But she saw the rear window of the car slowly roll down—

Ms. Ye’s features were particularly clear and gentle in the light of the car’s interior.

“…”

Pei the Little Able Cat’s heart skipped a beat.

A fierce wind was blowing everywhere, and the rain and the clear tears on her cheeks merged together.

The apprehension and nervousness that had been squeezing her throat for so long instantly stopped, and vanished into thin air.

In its place was an unspeakable sourness, grievance, and complete relaxation.

BOOM—

The sky suddenly exploded with a violent thunderclap.

The curtain of rain swayed, and Pei the Little Able Cat trembled slightly.

One hand was holding an umbrella, so she could only hastily raise the other hand in surrender.

Her long, reddish-brown curls were messy from the wind and rain, and her eyes were misty with tears. What a fragile and helpless, pitiful and brave little red panda.

Ye Zhao’s nose suddenly felt sore at the sight. She raised a hand and opened the car door, and opened her arms.

“Rong Bao, come to Mom.”

The woman’s voice was drenched by the night’s fierce rain, and it flowed into her ear, both clear and hazy.

A sour numbness suddenly shot up Pei Rong’s back.

An image flashed through her mind—

Many years ago, she had still been a fluffy cub.

On a rainy day, she had been playing in the courtyard and had climbed a tree, and in the end, she had been trapped on a wet branch that was about to break, and she had been so scared she had cried.

And the woman had rushed to the bottom of the tree and, just like this, had opened her arms and had said to her, “Rong Bao, come to Mom.”

She had let go of her paws and had really and steadily fallen into her mother’s arms.

…

Another bolt of lightning tore through the sky, and Pei Rong came back to her senses.

The harsh weather, the bone-chilling fear, seemed to have been gently pushed aside by a pair of invisible, large hands.

All that was left was the faint light of the car’s interior in front, and under the light, Ye Zhao’s familiar features, and her open arms.

Life is difficult, and obstacles are everywhere.

But a mother’s embrace is always a little red panda’s free and open field.

BOOM—

The next thunderclap that shook the heavens sounded, and the already crumbling memory wall in her mind completely shattered.

Pei Rong transformed into a red panda and, finally, impatiently leaped toward her mother.

And her mother, just as she had done more than twenty years ago, steadily caught her with both hands.

The car door closed, and a sense of stability and warmth filled the room.

“Why were you just standing in the rain? You’re soaked.”

Ms. Ye held the wet little red panda and murmured, and took out a towel to wipe her fur.

The little red panda clutched Ye Zhao’s collar with her paws, her head aching, and countless memories surging.

But for the time being, she had no time to sort them out and just whimpered anxiously:

“Mom, we have to go get Yu Bao.”

“…”

Ye Zhao’s movements paused.

A brief silence fell over the car.

Pei the Little Able Cat tilted her head slightly. She felt the woman holding her’s chest rising and falling rapidly, as if she were in the midst of a certain tremor.

The fur was dripping with water, and it was really uncomfortably wet.

Pei the Little Able Cat endured for a moment, but in the end, she instinctively and like a fluffy little propeller, “ploo-ploo-ploo-ed” and shook the water off.

The splashed raindrops landed on the tips of Ye Zhao’s tear-soaked lashes.

Ye Zhao subconsciously blinked her eyes and came back to her senses.

She slowly curled her lips and chuckled lightly, her voice a little hoarse when she spoke.

“Rong Bao, don’t worry. We’re already on our way there.”

Only then did Pei the Little Able Cat feel at ease.

The car’s body rolled over the accumulated water in the thick curtain of rain, and the lightning and thunder in the sky had not yet ceased.

Pei the Little Able Cat was carefully wiped by her mother with a towel.

In the moment the lightning lit up the earth, she would unconsciously recall the sharp pain of the electric current running through her body.

At that time, she had been terrified and helpless… When she was being zapped, she could only repeatedly think of her mother and Yu Bao to get through it, but because of this, her thoughts had gradually become numb, and she had forgotten everything.

But at this very moment, she was nestled in her mother’s arms, and the cold rainwater on her fur was being gently wiped away, and her whole body was being carefully protected. Her heart was full of peace, and she had recovered everything she had lost.

“Mom, are we almost there?”

She raised her wet right paw to wipe Ms. Ye’s face.

Ye Zhao said in a gentle voice, “We’ll be there soon.”

The rain outside the window was getting heavier, and the whole city seemed to be about to be overturned by it.

Pei Rong was suddenly reminded of a rainy night nearly ten years ago.

That night, there had been lightning and thunder, and a torrential downpour.

She had had a little bit of money and a gift in her pocket, and had set out on the road to find her mother and younger sister with a heart full of hope, but had been taken to the zoo instead, and had never been able to find her way home again.

But today, ten years later, the story would be completely different—

There was still lightning and thunder, and a torrential downpour.

She would successfully pick up Yu Bao with her mother, and then they would enjoy a sweet dinner together.