Pregnant with the Empress’s Alpha Heir - Chapter 9

Returning to the bar manager’s office, Yu Zhitao learned that Wei Meng was one of the owners here.

With Wei Meng present, the manager warmly received them both and enthusiastically invited Yu Zhitao to try the instrument.

Wei Meng rested her chin on her hand. “What’s the point of playing here?”

She glanced at the time. “Lowell Band will finish their set in ten minutes. Little lamb, how about you go up and give it a try then?”

Yu Zhitao wrinkled her nose. “…Why are you calling me such a weird nickname?”

Wei Meng draped an arm over her shoulder. “Well, you still haven’t told me your name.”

A-Jiu, standing nearby, let her gaze subtly drift over Wei Meng’s arm.

Yu Zhitao took a small step back. “Ahem, my name is Yu Zhitao.”

To prevent the other woman from coming up with any more strange nicknames, she added, “You can just call me ‘Yu Zhitao.'”

“By the way, what’s your name?”

“Wei Meng,” she replied, tilting her head.

Yu Zhitao cleared her throat. “Wouldn’t it be too abrupt for me to suddenly go on stage and play the guqin?”

Wei Meng, however, said, “When we look for resident performers, we always test their live performance. Even if you play here first, you’ll have to go on stage eventually.”

“Here’s what we’ll do…” She turned to the manager. “Have someone make an announcement say we’ve found a traditional instrument practitioner who will perform the guqin for everyone later.”

The manager nodded and immediately went to arrange it.

Yu Zhitao took a deep breath to steady herself, took the guqin from A-Jiu’s arms, and used the remaining time to prepare.

Wei Meng watched with amusement. “I didn’t think this thing could actually produce melodies. Still, it’s far behind our modern instruments.”

Yu Zhitao didn’t know how to respond, but A-Jiu interjected, “They each have their own merits.”

The moment she spoke, Wei Meng turned to look at her.

Their eyes met, both frowning slightly before looking away.

Soon, the manager returned and led Yu Zhitao out to wait. Meanwhile, the bar’s temporary host took the stage to introduce the upcoming performance to the crowd.

Unlike the bar where Yu Zhitao and A-Jiu had first met, this one leaned more toward the quiet, relaxed atmosphere of Earth’s old-fashioned lounges. The music wasn’t loud, and people gathered in small groups, chatting over drinks.

At first, most didn’t understand what a “guqin” was. But when Yu Zhitao walked out carrying the instrument, murmurs of surprise rippled through the crowd.

Since the bar wasn’t noisy, Yu Zhitao could clearly hear the audience’s comments.

“Is this some kind of bizarre performance? A guqin? Haha.”

“I’ve only seen this thing in middle school textbooks. Was it ever actually proven to be playable?”

“I always thought people who could use ancient instruments like this would be elderly researchers from archaeological institutes. This girl looks young is she even an adult?”

Whispers continued, but no one seemed optimistic about her upcoming performance.

Some even pulled out their smart devices to record the scene, planning to upload it as comedic material.

Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Yu Zhitao not to be nervous.

Her mind blank, she walked onto the stage, only to realize belatedly that there was no table for the guqin or a chair for her to sit on while playing. Flustered, she retreated backstage.

The audience burst into laughter.

“Hey, she ran away!”

“After all, she’s an Omega. It’s normal for her to be timid and run away.”

“Haha, maybe she finally realized that this whole guqin performance was just a joke.”

A-Jiu stood at the edge of the backstage area.

After hearing Yu Zhitao’s request, she immediately found a matching set of table and chairs amidst the cluttered backstage and carried them onto the stage for Yu Zhitao.

Once the guqin was set up, Yu Zhitao timidly tugged at A-Jiu’s sleeve: “A-Jiu… did I mess things up before even starting?”

A-Jiu patted her back reassuringly: “It’s fine, don’t worry.”

In the dim bar lighting, most of A-Jiu’s face was hidden in shadow.

After comforting Yu Zhitao, she called out to the laughing crowd below: “Quiet.”

Her voice wasn’t particularly loud, yet the room fell into an eerie silence for a moment.

After a brief pause, conversations resumed, but everyone instinctively lowered their voices.

Wei Meng stood at the booth closest to the stage, her eyes fixed intently on the two figures above.

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, feeling like she might have overlooked something.

Soon, A-Jiu stepped down, and Yu Zhitao, having calmed her breathing, began to play from memory.

The piece was called “Clear Spring,” the most practiced composition from her guqin studies. She’d struggled with it endlessly during her grading exams.

The guqin’s ethereal, crisp tones resonated directly from fingertips to strings, creating melodies that seemed to vibrate against eardrums.

Most instruments in the interstellar era were heavily technological.

After millennia of space travel, ordinary sounds no longer stimulated human senses. At some point, intensely stimulating electronic music had come to dominate the musical world.

But now, humanity had reestablished homes across star systems, living in an era of peace.

While Yu Zhitao’s playing would be considered amateurish by modern professional standards, its raw simplicity held its own charm.

The audience had long shed their initial disdain, now listening quietly.

If asked to judge, most wouldn’t know how to evaluate it, just as A-Jiu had said earlier, they simply found the performance…

“Extraordinarily unique.”

Some deeply buried genetic memories stirred slightly. Everyone felt an inner string plucked in harmony with Yu Zhitao’s fingertips.

Much later, when Yu Zhitao’s guqin music became legendary across the star systems, people who’d lived their entire lives in the mechanical interstellar age would gradually rediscover the natural frequencies buried in their DNA.

And this audience was the luckiest, the first to experience the charm of ancient instruments firsthand.

As the final notes faded, scattered applause broke out, quickly swelling into thunderous ovation that drowned out Yu Zhitao’s bow of thanks.

Blushing, Yu Zhitao carried her guqin backstage and asked A-Jiu excitedly: “How was it? Not too bad?”

A-Jiu’s attention remained on the audience.

During the performance, she’d noticed a peculiar individual intently observing Yu Zhitao’s every move.

The gaze wasn’t curious, it felt more like surveillance.

But the observer had concealed themselves well; only someone with A-Jiu’s heightened senses could have detected it.

Now, hearing Yu Zhitao’s question, A-Jiu refocused.

Yu Zhitao was slightly sweaty, her cherry-cream pheromones more pronounced than usual.

Ah Jiu took a deep breath and brushed away the sweat-dampened strands of hair from the little Omega’s forehead. “Mm, very good.”

It was unclear whether she was referring to the scent or the performance just now.

Yu Zhitao stuck out her tongue. “I was so nervous! I almost messed up several parts just now!”

Ah Jiu reassured her, “It was already excellent.”

Just as the two were about to head back to the manager’s office, a pretty young girl, only slightly older than Yu Zhitao, slipped into the backstage area.

She immediately locked eyes with Yu Zhitao and Ah Jiu, trotting over to greet them.

“Hi! I just listened to your performance downstairs it was absolutely amazing!” The girl’s face was full of admiration. “My name is Shu Da. It’s an honor to hear you play!”

Yu Zhitao shook her hand. “Hello, thank you.”

Shu Da blinked her big eyes. “Are you a regular performer here?”

Yu Zhitao flushed slightly. “Not yet… Today was my first time on stage. I still need to go back to the manager’s office to see if I can stay.”

Shu Da grabbed her arm excitedly. “Of course you can! Your music was so beautiful! I almost cried listening to it!”

Not wanting to take up too much of Yu Zhitao’s time, she quickly got to the point. “I recorded your entire performance just now. I wanted to ask would it be okay if I posted it online?”

She cleared her throat. “I run a self-media channel and love collecting unique music.”

Yu Zhitao was momentarily surprised but then nodded. “Oh… sure.”

She remembered that in modern times, many people filmed street performers too as long as they had permission, it was fine to upload.

The situation now wasn’t much different, and Yu Zhitao saw no reason to refuse.

After this little interlude, the two bid farewell to Shu Da and returned to the office.

The manager wasn’t there instead, Wei Meng was waiting behind the desk.

Yu Zhitao asked, “The performance is over. I was wondering…”

Wei Meng waved a hand. “You passed. You played wonderfully.”

“Come sign the contract.”

Yu Zhitao was taken aback. “Huh? Just like that?”

Wei Meng smiled. “I prefer to get things done quickly.”

Yu Zhitao nodded and stepped forward to pick up the drafted contract.

Her eyes immediately went to the hourly rate, only to find a number far beyond her expectations.

“100,000 Star Coins per month? That much?” she exclaimed.

If she really got this job, she wouldn’t have to worry about her tuition in two months at all.

Wei Meng reminded her, “I added some ‘exclusivity’ clauses, so in return, I raised your compensation.”

“You can read through it carefully.”

Yu Zhitao immediately began scrutinizing the contract word by word.

Most performers didn’t stick to just one venue. Unless they were the main attraction, they might play at a restaurant for two hours one day and perform at a bar the next.

But Wei Meng’s contract explicitly stated that during the contract period, Yu Zhitao could only perform at this bar.

After reading, Yu Zhitao looked up. “The daily performance time won’t be too long, right?”

Wei Meng chuckled. “At first, you’ll only need to play one or two pieces. As the audience gets used to you, it might increase.”

“But our bar collaborates with many bands. Even later on, your daily performance time won’t exceed three hours.”

Yu Zhitao’s eyes lit up, and she turned to look at Ah Jiu.

She didn’t even realize it herself, she had begun inexplicably relying on this presence beside her whose real name she didn’t even know.

Ah Jiu had also reviewed the contract and now nodded at her.

Yu Zhitao decisively signed her name.

“Deal!”

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