Lu Liangwei widened her eyes and stared at him in surprise. “You know how to play this song?”

“I happened to hear it when I got back, and I was listening for a while outside.” Long Yang turned and looked at her, a pleasant smile on his lips. “I didn’t know my darling Weiwei could sing so beautifully.”

Lu Liangwei was completely charmed when she heard him call her “his darling Weiwei”, but when she caught sight of Long Xuan and Youyou next to her, she cleared her throat in embarrassment and ignored his comment. “You can already play it after listening to it only once?”

Long Yang gave her a wordless smile, then plucked the zither strings and played “Painting Hearts” in full.

Lu Liangwei exclaimed, “You’re amazing, Your Majesty!”

Long Yang pressed his fingers to the strings, his deep eyes glittering with joy before abruptly glancing over to Long Xuan.

Long Xuan had been longing to escape for some time now, as he could not stand watching his royal uncle and aunt flirt with each other so shamelessly.

He was getting goosebumps all over his body.

Therefore, when he received the hint from his royal uncle to make himself scarce, he said very sensibly, “I’ll take my leave now, Royal Uncle.” He did not forget to drag Beitang You away with him.

Without outsiders around to disturb them, Long Yang pulled Lu Liangwei onto his lap, then took her hand and pressed it onto the zither strings.

“Play something for me, Weiwei.”

Lu Liangwei ran her fingers over the strings carelessly, producing a cacophony of random notes. She then turned her head and looked at him glumly. “I’d love to, but I don’t know how.”

Long Yang paused, and remembering how she had played the flute during the Autumn Hunt on the Cool Mountains the previous year, he said, “Then can you play the flute for me again?”

“There’s no flute here.” Lu Liangwei shrugged.

After thinking for a moment, Long Yang took her hands and started teaching her how to play the zither.

However, learning the zither was not something that could be accomplished in a short time. It also seemed that Lu Liangwei did not possess talent in this area, for her playing was still a mess even after Long Yang had coached her for quite a while.

“Forget it. I’m better off just listening to you play.” Lu Liangwei placed his hands back on the strings, a little mesmerized by how clean and slender his knuckles were.

The Emperor had a pair of truly beautiful hands.

This pair of incredible hands could also wield weapons and brushes as well as play the zither.

They could do everything.

Lu Liangwei could not resist grabbing his fingers and caressing them lightly.

Long Yang burst out laughing at her actions. “Why are you so interested in my fingers?”

“Because you have really attractive hands,” Lu Liangwei praised him generously.

Long Yang’s breath hitched in his throat. The undisguised merriment in the girl’s eyes filled him with contentment, but he arched an eyebrow in a deliberately teasing manner. “Are my hands the only attractive part of me?”

“Of course not. You’re handsome overall,” Lu Liangwei added hastily. When she turned her head and saw his alluring lips, she could not help herself from leaning forward and giving them a quick peck, but as she moved away, she spotted the hickey on his Adam’s apple. Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she hurriedly jumped to her feet and backed away slightly from him.

Long Yang decided not to voice out her secret thoughts. Laying his slender fingers on the strings, he started plucking away.

Lu Liangwei sat beside him and listened quietly.

She was familiar with the piece he was playing, too. The Emperor had played it for her a year ago in the small courtyard back in the imperial capital, and the Virtuous Consort had also played it at the Cool Mountains.

Aside from those two occasions, she had never heard the piece anywhere else before, so she figured that the Emperor had composed it himself.

The Emperor was truly a man of many talents!

She gazed at him silently with her chin in her hands, her eyes brimming with admiration.

When Long Yang finished playing, he saw Weiwei gazing steadily at him, her sparkling eyes full of adoration.

Being adored this much by his wife at this moment, Long Yang felt that he had nothing else to regret in his life.

His lips curved into a smile. He got up, made his way over to her, and dipped his head to plant a kiss on her forehead.