All My Colleagues Are Animals 97

Epilogue 1: If Line – Childhood Sweethearts (Part 4)

9 PM.

The lights in the Zhisong High School academic building were bright.

Ye Zhao arrived at the open office door.

She looked up and saw her two precious daughters standing by the desk, holding hands, their backs stubbornly straight, facing a woman with a gloomy expression.

They looked just like a pair of ill-fated lovers, proudly unyielding in the face of an evil force.

…No, that’s not right. Ms. Ye reined in her scattered thoughts and said:

“Teacher Li, hello.”

The dean looked up and at the beautiful woman at the door.

“Hello, may I ask whose parent you are?”

Ms. Ye stepped in and answered with an air of composure:

“Both of them.”

The dean: “…?”

Ye Zhao walked behind the human and the red panda and patted the heads of her two cubs.

Tonight, the dean had called both of her numbers, informing her of Yu Bao and Rong Bao’s puppy love, and also said that Rong Bao was a bad influence on a good student.

This was really a bit too absurd. After hanging up, she had immediately rushed to the school, preparing to clear things up in person once and for all.

Ye Zhao curled her lips slightly at the dean, her smile light.

“They are my biological daughters, and they are sisters who have grown up together since they were little. Teacher Li, I think it’s natural for sisters to be close.”

“And even if they weren’t sisters, it’s very common for two simple girls to hold hands and be friends, and to love each other.”

“To say ‘bad influence,’ Teacher Li, your choice of words is really a bit inappropriate.”

After speaking, she lovingly rubbed the reddish-brown, fluffy head. “Our Pei Rong has always been a particularly good child.”

“Mhm.” Pei the Red Panda, with her mother’s backing, immediately lifted her head proudly, her peach blossom eyes sparkling.

“…” The dean was speechless.

She had caught a same-sex couple on the playground, and as a result, one of them had openly and wantonly talked back to her and had even boldly declared her love, “She’s mine.” And the other was a student who had come in with the top score in the high school entrance exam, a good seedling that the school was focusing on cultivating, yet she had indulged her lover’s arrogance.

Thus, with her rich experience, it was clear at a glance that a bad child was leading a good student astray. As the dean, she was naturally anxious and had quickly contacted the parents.

But it turned out they were sisters. So “she’s mine” was actually an abbreviation for “she’s my younger sister”!

Although the dean was strict, she was also a reasonable person. Discovering that it was a misunderstanding, her tone softened, and she took the initiative to apologize to the students and their parent, and to comfort them.

The two cubs had been so misunderstood. They were so innocent and pitiful. Ye Zhao was protective and directly took the two of them out of the evening self-study early and went home for a late-night snack.

The night wind blew by. She watched the human and the red panda holding hands and walking in front, the girls’ schoolbags of the same style on their backs, their hair entangled in the moonlight, inexperienced and serene.

She couldn’t help but smile with relief. Two sisters, innocent and without a care in the world, was truly as pure as it gets.

…

Nearly four weeks into the school year, the human and the red panda were about to face their first monthly exam in high school.

When they were having lunch together, they talked about this, and Luo Bian couldn’t help but worry. “I’m at swimming practice every day. I haven’t even looked at my books yet.”

“What about you, Wu Shu?”

Wu Shu lifted her sharp, jade-green eyes, cool and confident.

“If I don’t know, I’ll just choose C.”

Speaking of which, the three of them had not originally known this true school bully, Wu Shu.

That noon, Wu Shu had come to the cafeteria, her pair of beast-like, jade-green eyes cold and indifferent, with an extremely strong sense of pressure, and her gaze had cleared a patch of empty space in the crowded cafeteria.

Then, after she had ordered her food at the cafeteria window, she had coolly and nobly reached into her pocket—only to find that her school card seemed to be lost, and she had only found her Jiejie’s house key.

There were countless pairs of eyes staring at her in the cafeteria, and the proud and face-saving panther was for a moment in a dilemma.

Just then, Pei the Red Panda, holding Ye Qingyu’s hand, came to get food, and Luo Bian was with them.

The three of them were not afraid of her aura and walked over, talking and laughing.

“Little girl, are you going to swipe your card or not?” the cafeteria auntie urged Wu Shu.

Seeing the girl fumbling in her pocket for a long time, Pei the Red Panda walked up and used her card to swipe for her. Ms. Ye had raised her two cubs in luxury, and the balance in both the human’s and the red pada’s school cards was enough to be spent at will, and the red panda also spent money with a big paw and did not care about the details.

In the following days, Wu Shu had two free meals without a card, and after getting a new card, she had taken the initiative to treat them back several times. The group of three had, without realizing it, become a group of four, and from then on, they had always eaten together.

…

Pei the Red Panda puffed out her snow-white cheeks and said, “Then what if it’s not a multiple-choice question?”

Wu Shu said calmly, “For fill-in-the-blank questions, I’ll just write 1. For long-answer questions, I’ll just write ‘solution’.”

Luo Bian nodded. “That makes sense.”

Seeing these few, with just a few words, determine their answer strategy, Ye Qingyu’s eyelashes trembled slightly. “…”

That afternoon, the list for the first monthly exam was released.

According to their grades, Ye Qingyu was in exam room one, and the red panda, who had been squeezed in, was assigned to the last exam room, sixteen.

On the day of the exam, Ye Qingyu took the red panda to the entrance of exam room sixteen.

She carefully checked the red panda’s stationery again, and also gave her a bottle of mineral water and a tissue.

Ye the Little Tree, at the age of fifteen, had an endless list of worries. She patted the red panda’s head with a certain unease and instructed gently:

“Don’t be anxious if you can’t do the problems. I’ll teach you everything in the future. You can catch up on your sleep. Wait for me at the classroom door after the exam. I’ll come and get you as soon as I can.”

Pei the Red Panda nodded with pleasure and nuzzled the girl’s palm.

“Ooh, I forgot my 2B pencil… Jiejie clearly reminded me.” A puppy-like whimper suddenly came from the side.

The human and the red panda turned their heads to look and saw a classmate with long, brilliant-gold hair, a beautiful and eye-catching hair color. Her pair of eyes were round and very cute, like a puppy’s.

This year’s first-year class seemed to have a particularly large number of students with unusual hair colors—

Besides the red panda and Luo Bian, who had quickly become popular on the forum, there had been a few other similar cases later on. But after the initial novelty had passed, and with the increasing pressure of their studies, everyone had gotten used to it, and although there was some discussion, it was not very high.

Ye Qingyu took a 2B pencil from her own schoolbag and handed it to the blonde classmate.

“Classmate, I happen to have an extra one here. You can use it.”

“!” The girl’s puppy-dog eyes immediately sparkled, and she took the pencil with both hands, overjoyed. “Thank you so much!”

“I’m Jin Can from Class 1-8. Which class are you in? I’ll return the pencil to you after the exam.”

Ye Qingyu chuckled lightly. “I just happened to buy an extra one. It’s no use to me. You can just use it.”

She was about to leave when she saw Luo Bian and Wu Shu appear in her line of sight.

“Sister Rong, Little Yu?”

Seeing that a few of her friends were in this exam room, Ye Qingyu couldn’t help but feel a little more at ease. The red panda should not be so scared.

She squeezed the red panda’s hand and temporarily said goodbye to everyone.

…

Ring, ring, ring— The exam bell rang, and exam room sixteen was gradually filled with students.

Among them, several colorful, fluffy heads were very eye-catching—there was one with white and pink streaks, one with a mix of black, white, and orange, and one with a faint, bright, watery blue in its beige…

The proctor walked into the exam room and, caught off guard, his brow twitched. He looked toward the door and, not seeing a three-colored rotating pole, he figured this should not be a barber shop.

The first exam was Chinese. This was the only subject the red panda had followed in her high school classes, so she could write a little something on the test paper.

She blinked her clear peach blossom eyes and seriously reviewed the questions on the test paper.

[Please analyze “The ripe dates on the tree burst open, and gradually withered like the skin of an old man resting in the shade of the tree.”]

Ye Qingyu, in another exam room, picked up her pen. [This sentence uses the rhetorical device of a metaphor to vividly express…]

Pei the Red Panda, on the other hand, licked the tip of her teeth and wrote with regret, [It expresses that fruit must be eaten in time.]

Her pen flew, and her writing was long and flowing. Like an empress reviewing a memorial, the red panda confidently and with ease finished the paper and also quickly wrote a long essay.

Then she rubbed her sore hand and, with her beastly nature flaring up, fell asleep on the desk.

The proctor’s brow furrowed slightly at the sight, and he stood up and was about to wake this sleeping student.

But he saw, plop, plop—

Youth is so good. All the students present had fallen asleep.

After class, they handed in their papers.

Luo Bian, having had her fill of sleep, stretched. She pulled Wu Shu over to Pei the Red Panda’s side and said with excitement:

“Let’s go, Sister Rong! Let’s go and get Little Yu and go for a meal! I’m starving.”

“…Um, hello.”

Luo Bian’s ears twitched slightly. She turned her head and saw a girl with long, golden hair blinking her puppy-dog eyes and asking:

“Can I go and eat with you all?”

She was clearly a big sister’s girl. After she finished, she happily added an explanation, “Because Jiejie told me to make more friends at school!”

Luo Bian readily agreed. “Sure. Is your hair color also natural?”

Jin Can nodded. “Mhm, mhm!”

Coincidentally, at this moment, Ye Qingyu had come to exam room sixteen to pick up the red panda.

She unintentionally saw the brown-haired girl who was tidying up on the side. It was their roommate, Shui Zhu.

Shui Zhu was usually a loner, and she looked quiet and zen-like, immersed in her own little universe. But a few days ago, when the red panda had had a stomach ache, she had taken the initiative to lend her some medicine.

And so, Ye Qingyu asked, “Shui Zhu, do you want to have dinner with us?”

Shui Zhu’s ears twitched. She could ship her CP up close. Her eyes lit up, and she gladly nodded.

In the end, the six, in a riot of color, went to the cafeteria for a meal. Wherever they went, they attracted the curious gazes of the students.

The cafeteria had small tables for four and also large round tables in a private room that could accommodate a dozen or so people. Everyone sat around a round table in a private room and slowly ate and chatted.

Luo Bian said, “Today’s essay topic was ‘Mother.’ What did you all write about?”

Pei the Red Panda had just had a deep sleep and was not yet fully awake. She blinked her hazy peach blossom eyes and, in her drowsiness, spoke without any guard.

“I wrote about how Mom used to hold me, a little red panda, and feed me apples, and also comb my fur and wipe my paws.”

“…” The moment Pei the Red Panda finished, a thin layer of sweat broke out on Ye Qingyu’s back.

Her heart immediately tensed up, and she was about to say something to cover it up, but she saw Jin Can’s innocent puppy-dog eyes widen.

“Wow, so I’m not the only small animal? I wrote about Jiejie raising a little Golden Retriever!”

Ye Qingyu paused.

“…Huh?!” Luo Bian put down her chopsticks.

“In that case…” she coolly flicked her long, light-blue hair. “The cards are on the table. I’m a shrimp.”

“Oh, right, Wu Shu, your nickname is Panther. Could it be that you’re—”

Wu Shu blinked her jade-green eyes, and a growl, characteristic of a large feline, came from her throat.

The overly young, and also each very well-protected by their families, little animals did not have much of a guard. Meeting their own kind, their covers were like dominoes, and one fell, and then a whole row.

In the end, it was Ye Qingyu’s turn.

“Little Yu, what animal are you?” The little beasts were curious, their gazes burning.

Ye Qingyu’s lips opened and closed, and she was about to speak, but she saw Jin Can’s puppy-dog eyes brighten, and she said with confidence:

“I know! You’re a German Shepherd!”

Ye Qingyu paused slightly and blinked her eyes innocently.

“Mmm? How did you guess?” Everyone was suddenly curious.

“Her hair is black, and a German Shepherd has black fur. But, more importantly—”

“Just now, I saw Sister Yu send Sister Rong to the exam room, and she helped her check her stationery, and carefully instructed her on various matters, and in the end, she even patted her head. She’s just like a gentle and considerate big German Shepherd dog.”

“When Jiejie was walking me, I met a German Shepherd, and she was exactly the same!”

Ye Qingyu was so convinced by what she was hearing that she was almost ready to believe she was a German Shepherd. She couldn’t help but laugh and, with regret, said something that would shatter the little Golden Retriever’s illusion. “It’s a pity, but I am the only human present.”

Pei the Red Panda extended her arm and lazily hooked it around her neck, and said with a smile, “She’s my tree.”

And the red panda’s active and domineering appearance made a certain Tun’s eyes secretly light up—

As expected, Sister Rong is the top!

Last night, Tun’s Lament had been arguing with “Suffocating Pain” on the forum. Later, the two had added each other on QQ and had fought a fierce battle with fanfictions until late at night. And even this morning, they had greeted each other with fanfictions.

Now that she had completely confirmed that her ship was right, Tun-Tun’s mind was full of inspiration, and she could fight another three hundred rounds with Suffocating Pain.

Poor “Suffocating Pain.” This time, she would really taste the suffocating pain of a reversed ship. Tun-Tun shook her head in sympathy.

Having made many new friends in a row, her school life seemed to be becoming more and more colorful.

But it was, after all, high school, and studying was the eternal theme of life.

Soon, the results of the first monthly exam were out.

To protect the students’ self-esteem, the report cards were not fully published, and each student could only see their own grades and ranking for each subject.

But in addition to this, the grades of the top three in the class and the top ten in the grade would be announced separately, as a reward and encouragement.

Ye Qingyu’s grades were in a league of their own, both in the class and in the grade.

In high school, and in the best high school in the city at that—grades were often something that attracted more attention and pursuit than looks or family background.

Especially when the photos of the top ten in the grade were posted on the bulletin board. A girl with beautiful and gentle features was smiling with a spirited air in the picture, and next to her was a high and unattainable score.

For a time, Ye Qingyu had countless fans both inside and outside her class, and many of her classmates would even line up to ask her for help with problems.

At first, Pei the Red Panda did not have much of a reaction to this.

She was happy for Yu Bao and was proud of her. She also secretly encouraged herself to work hard and not be at the bottom.

But…

Another break. Pei the Red Panda was lying on her desk, her head turned to look at her childhood sweetheart deskmate.

The sunlight was streaming in through the window, and the girl’s back was straight, and the curve of her profile was beautiful. Her fair and delicate skin had a faint golden glow, and the fine hairs were almost transparent.

During this time, there were always so many classmates who came to ask for help, and they would gather in a half-circle.

And the girl, surrounded, her features were serene, and she would calmly and gently and easily explain the difficult problems.

For this, much of Ye Qingyu’s rest time was taken up, and her chances of being with the red panda during the day were also reduced.

Pei the Red Panda watched in a daze and couldn’t help but think of the countless nights in the past when Ye Qingyu had, at her desk at home, paw-in-hand, or hand-in-hand, taught her to study.

“Ye Qingyu, can you come to my place to play and eat on the weekend? I have some problems…” a girl who had come to ask for help asked in a small voice.

That voice vaguely reached the red panda’s ear, and her heart suddenly tightened.

Is Ye Qingyu going to go to someone else’s desk to help them with problems, just as she does with me, a little panda? Hand-in-hand, body pressed against body, from time to time rubbing her head and kissing her ear, and when she’s unhappy, coaxing her in a gentle voice to do it…

The red panda felt as if she had suddenly bitten into a green plum, so sour that her teeth went weak and the tip of her heart tightened.

She looked away and buried her head in her arms. She covered her ears, unwilling to hear how Ye Qingyu would agree to the girl’s invitation.

Having been taken for granted and having been the sole possession of a human since she was little, Pei the Red Panda, for the first time, felt this strange feeling of being about to have her beloved taken away, and she was wronged and at a loss.

Her peach blossom eyes quietly became misty in the darkness.

Ding-ding— Class was starting.

The classmate who had come to ask for help returned to her seat, and Ye Qingyu’s voice was a little hoarse from talking, and she took a sip of water.

She turned her head and saw that Pei the Red Panda was looking down, as if she were seriously writing her exercises. But her snow-white cheeks were puffed up, and her whole being was sullen.

She curved her brow slightly and leaned her head over, and affectionately nuzzled Pei Rong’s shoulder. “Jiejie, did you run into a problem you can’t solve?”

Pei the Red Panda blinked her misty peach-blossom eyes, and through the thin veil of moisture in them, her gaze fell vacantly on the test paper. She did not answer, but instead asked:

“Ye the Little Tree, are you going to someone else’s house to help them with problems on the weekend?”

“Hm?” Ye Qingyu blinked her eyes and reacted. “I refused.”

“Don’t I have to help our little red panda study on the weekend?”

Ye Qingyu vaguely sensed the little red panda’s awkward mood, and a soft smile appeared in her eyes, and she said seriously:

“Even if we’re not studying, I only want to eat fruit with the red panda on the weekend.”

“…” Pei the Red Panda bit her pink lip, and the corners of her lips curled up almost imperceptibly for a moment.

And Ye Qingyu caught that curve and also smiled.

…

Lunch break.

The girls’ clear and fragrant body heat was entangled in the narrow and dark bed.

Ye Qingyu lowered her head to look at the Pei the Red Panda in her arms and raised her hand, and from between her scattered, long, reddish-brown curls, she pulled out that peach-blossom-like face.

The little beast’s possessive instinct acted up, and Pei the Red Panda couldn’t help but take a bite of the human’s mischievous finger.

The wet and hot touch of her soft tongue brushed past her fingertip. Ye Qingyu’s breath hitched, and she met that pair of shimmering peach blossom eyes, and for a moment, she felt her heart pound extremely fast.

She did not yet understand what the heat pounding in her chest was. She just reined in her breath and gently kissed her childhood sweetheart’s fair and rounded ear.

“Don’t be sad by yourself in the future… I will always be yours, one single red panda’s.”