Pregnant with the Empress’s Alpha Heir - Chapter 7

“What are your plans next?” After some thought, Ah Jiu asked.

Yu Zhitao hiccuped through her tears: “Well, I think I’ll stay at a shelter for a few days first, then find a part-time job to earn some money.”

She glanced tentatively at Ah Jiu, wanting to ask about her plans but unable to voice the question.

Ah Jiu rubbed her temples.

She hadn’t expected things to come to this: “Do you really have no money left at all?”

Yu Zhitao admitted awkwardly: “Even the taxi ride back just now. I had to put it on credit.”

Ah Jiu frowned: “You’re an adult. Your father has no right to do this.”

Yu’s father had used the family’s influence to push her to this point, but regardless, it violated imperial law.

As Ah Jiu contemplated how to help Yu Zhitao seek justice, she heard Yu shake her head: “I know, but…”

Hanging her head low, she continued: “Forget it. I never really had the right to use the family’s money anyway.”

She wasn’t the true Yu family heiress. Now that the engagement issue had caused conflict with her family, she didn’t want to shamelessly demand what was never rightfully hers.

Seeing her resistance, Ah Jiu didn’t press further.

Yu Zhitao quickly composed herself and looked up: “Ah Jiu, what about you? What are your plans?

“If you’re also broke, do you want to come to the shelter with me?”

Having anticipated this situation, Yu had researched earlier. This was the upper district, the shelters here were decent, allowing ordinary citizens to stay for ten days to a month upon application.

Ah Jiu shook her head.

Her hand instinctively moved to touch her right wrist.

Citizens of Huaqi Star Sector were implanted with a neural interface at birth that carried all their important personal information, including citizenship records. But now, her wrist was bare.

However, that was only part of the reason.

She looked at Yu Zhitao: “Are you sure you can even get into a shelter?

“If this apartment’s been frozen, your father might block you from shelter access too.”

Yu Zhitao’s mouth opened slightly: “I…”

Watching her bewildered expression, Ah Jiu sighed.

She asked: “You said you still have credit? Good, call a rental car.”

“Huh?” Yu Zhitao was slow to react. “A rental car,  to go where?”

Ah Jiu stated plainly: “Back to last night’s bar.”

Yu Zhitao blinked: “The bar, why?”

Ah Jiu exhaled and said directly: “To get back the 300,000 you were scammed out of last night.”

Though somewhat drunk at the bar, she hadn’t been completely unaware. During her days drinking there, she’d consumed at most 100,000 star credits worth of alcohol. Those people had seen Yu as an easy mark and inflated the bill, never expecting to actually find someone so gullible.

Yu Zhitao straightened immediately: “Okay.”

Only after they and the kitten were seated in the hovercar did she belatedly realize the problem.

“Ah Jiu!” Yu Zhitao tugged her sleeve nervously, “Those three from last night didn’t seem like good people. Will reasoning with them really work?”

Ah Jiu remained expressionless.

She flexed her knuckles gently: “It will work.”

Yu Zhitao nodded blankly.

Having arrived in this unfamiliar world not long ago, apart from the Yu family members, the only beings she knew were Ah Jiu and this little kitten in her arms.

At that moment, Ah Jiu’s resolute attitude gave her immense courage.

So when Ah Jiu left her outside the bar and told her to wait obediently, though she felt a little worried, she complied without asking further.

Meanwhile, Ah Jiu found the bar’s back door through the alley next to it.

She stepped forward and knocked. A few minutes later, a yawning man opened the door, grumbling curses.

Seeing that Ah Jiu was an unfamiliar face, he scratched his stubble and asked, “Who the hell are you? What do you want?”

Ah Jiu recognized him, he was one of the men who had come to collect the debt the night before.

She cut straight to the point: “Last night, you collected a 300,000 tab for drinks at the bar. Remember?”

The man froze, then chuckled darkly.

He recognized Ah Jiu too not by her face, but by the faint scent of decaying wood in the air.

Rubbing his nose, he sneered, “Oh, it’s you, that useless Alpha. Yeah, I remember. A full 300,000, hard to forget.

“What? Got a problem with that?”

Ah Jiu replied, “My bill wasn’t that high. I want to see the detailed receipt and get the overcharge refunded.”

The man let out a mocking laugh.

Leaning against the doorframe, he scoffed, “Did I wake up too early, or is my brain not working right?

“You think you can take money back from me? You tryin’ to make me laugh myself to death?”

Another voice called from inside the bar, “Zhao Lao-Si, what the hell are you doing? Just grabbing a smoke and you take forever?”

Zhao Lao-Si shouted back, “Coming, coming!”

As he spoke, he casually tried to shut the door. “Got some idiot wasting my damn time!”

But before the door could close, Ah Jiu raised her arm to block it.

“I’m not joking. Hurry up, I don’t have time to waste.”

Zhao Lao-Si frowned. “Tch, you—”

Instinctively, he shifted into an aggressive stance, shamelessly releasing his pheromones.

Among Alphas, there was a hierarchy the stronger ones could physiologically suppress the weaker.

Within seconds, a metallic stench filled the air around the bar’s back door.

But contrary to Zhao Lao-Si’s expectations, Ah Jiu didn’t submit.

Just as he began to feel puzzled, several more men rushed out from inside the bar.

They were the bar’s security, alerted by Zhao Lao-Si’s pheromones.

When they saw only Zhao Lao-Si and Ah Jiu at the back door, they looked surprised.

“Zhao Lao-Si, what the hell’s going on?” one of them barked.

Zhao Lao-Si himself was confused.

He stared at Ah Jiu. “You’re tougher than I thought?”

Still oblivious to the danger, he shoved Ah Jiu instead. “Damn drunk, sobered up just to start shit. Get lost, I ain’t got time for you.”

The moment his hand touched Ah Jiu’s shoulder, the world spun before his eyes.

By the time he realized what had happened, he was already sprawled heavily on the ground.

Ah Jiu turned to the remaining men inside and repeated, “I want to see the detailed receipt for last night’s 300,000 tab and get the overcharge refunded.”

As she spoke, she leisurely cracked her knuckles.

Someone gulped audibly then, one by one, the burly bar security guards followed suit.

Ten minutes later.

Yu Zhi Tao lifted Xiao Jiu, staring into the kitten’s big eyes.

She muttered, “It’s been so long.Do you think Ah Jiu’s getting bullied in there?”

Xiao Jiu: “Meow~”

“Or maybe Ah Jiu came to her senses and decided to ditch me, the deadweight, and sneak off alone.”

“Meow~”

“What are you saying? You want to go into the alley to take a look? That doesn’t seem right, Ah Jiu told us to wait here.”

“Meow meow meow~”

“Since you’re so insistent, I guess I’ll have to indulge you! Come on, let’s go find Ah Jiu!”

“Meow meow meow meow?!”

Yu Zhitao had just found a good enough excuse and was about to step into the alley when she saw Ah Jiu walking back the same way. Behind her was the man who had led the debt collection the night before.

The man was covering the right side of his face, looking extremely cautious.

Yu Zhitao happily ran up to Ah Jiu, only then sparing a glance at the man.

Ah Jiu didn’t offer any explanation, simply nodding coolly at the man. “Transfer it.”

The man was uncharacteristically eager. “Yes, yes! Miss, uh, this young lady, could you please show me your payment QR code? I’ll return the extra 200,000 yuan we mistakenly took from you last night.”

Hearing this, Yu Zhitao snapped out of her thoughts and complied, showing her QR code.

This was a newly registered account, free from the Yu family’s control.

With a “beep,” the system notified her of the 200,000 yuan deposit.

“I’m truly sorry! Last night, my buddies and I had too much to drink and accidentally took the wrong amount. It’s all our fault for being blind and brainless!” The man slapped his own face several times before looking ingratiatingly at Ah Jiu. “If there’s nothing else, may I…?”

Ah Jiu nodded. “Go.”

With permission granted, the man scrambled away as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, Yu Zhitao was gleefully admiring the shiny string of numbers in her account.

Ignoring the man’s odd behavior, she blinked at Ah Jiu. “Ah Jiu, we’re ‘safe’ for now.”

No sooner had she spoken than her personal account received a message.

[Huaqi Comprehensive University: Congratulations, Yu Zhitao, on being admitted as a new student. Please report to Campus A of Huaqi Comprehensive University on September 1 and pay the tuition fee of 300,000 yuan. For any inquiries, please submit them on the official website. We welcome your questions.]

The smile on Yu Zhitao’s face froze instantly.

Ah Jiu, standing beside her, also saw the message.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she said, “Seems like it’s still not enough.”

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