Catching sight of her, Zhao Qian immediately went up to her and said courteously, “You’re here, Your Highness.”

Lu Liangwei nodded and asked with a smile, “Is His Majesty inside?”

Zhao Qian returned the smile. “Yes. I’ll go in and inform him first.”

At these words, Lu Liangwei stopped in her tracks.

If it were in the past, she would have entered whenever she pleased—she would not have bothered to inform him at all.

However, she knew that times had changed.

She sighed and resigned herself to waiting patiently.

Not long after, Zhao Qian came back out. He felt a little sorry to see her standing there, but there was nothing he could do about it, now that the Emperor had become so temperamental.

“Your Highness, Master asks you to go in.” He wiped the sweat from his brow, his tone more deferential than ever.

However, he chose not to tell her about Long Yang’s indifference upon hearing that she had come over. In fact, the emperor had even said, “So what if she’s here? Am I supposed to go out and greet her?”

Zhao Qian felt like wringing his own neck. He would never dare to tell Lu Liangwei what he said.

He thought that the Emperor would have changed his attitude toward the Empress after what happened two nights ago, but he was still his same insufferable self despite having slept with her.

The Empress had slept with him for nothing!

Zhao Qian cursed his master severely in his heart.

Unaware of Butler Zhao’s internal drama, Lu Liangwei entered the study and ordered Zhu Yu and Chu Jiu to place the food baskets on the table before having them leave the room.

Long Yang was seated at the imperial table, marking Palace Memorials. He had heard her coming in, but he restrained himself from raising his head and looking at her.

However, when she still did not come over to him after a while, he could not help feeling irritable.

Recollecting himself, he picked up his brush to write “reviewed” on the Palace Memorial that he had read.

However, when he brought the brush down, he almost ended up writing that particular person’s name.

He stopped writing and stared unblinkingly at the written character on the Palace Memorial.

Recovering his senses, he took a deep breath. Thank goodness he had only written the initial strokes.

For that reason, this well-produced Palace Memorial became an unfortunate victim of the Emperor’s merciless criticism, and its contents were marked with a huge X using a cinnabar brush.

As Long Yang gazed at his masterpiece, his mouth curved into an upward arc, and a smug smile colored his eyes.

Subconsciously, he raised his head to search for Lu Liangwei.

His young Empress was standing at the table and arranging the dishes, the aroma of food wafting in the air around her.

Long Yang was momentarily dazed.

The young girl was dressed in a loose gown and wore her hair in a simple double bun adorned with a pretty ribbon that fluttered as she moved, adding an extraordinary touch of loveliness and ethereality.

Aside from that, there were no other ornaments on her head. Her palm-sized face was bare and unpowdered, giving her a unique translucence.

It was not the first time Long Yang looked at her so closely, but at this moment, he was still enchanted.

He had never seen such a beautiful girl.

Although he had long known that his young Empress was gorgeous, he could not control his heart from racing every time he saw her.

Right now, it fluttered even more as he gazed at her busying herself at the table, appearing unusually demure.

That image of hers made Long Yang’s heart swell with tenderness.

Pursing his lips, he suddenly tossed his brush aside, got up, and walked over to her.

His strides were deliberately loud, as if worried that she did not know he was approaching her.

At the sound of his footsteps, Lu Liangwei’s hands hovered in the air briefly, and she thought to herself, ‘The Emperor’s such a child!’

Without looking over her shoulder, she said, “Your Majesty, go wash your hands first, then come and have a meal with me.”