After shouting those words, the two maids moved to lay hands on him, but the Crown Prince's icy gaze stopped them in their tracks. Neither dared take another step forward.
Shen Yangge saw it all.
He slowly tried to shift from lying horizontally to tilting sideways, but his legs had been clamped around the door panel for so long that they had gone numb and sore. The moment he moved, his entire lower body dropped toward the ground, and he instinctively stretched one leg toward Chu Xuanzhen.
He was gambling on whether Chu Xuanzhen would reach out to catch his leg.
Yet in the next instant, instead of catching his leg as Shen Yangge had expected, Chu Xuanzhen grabbed his waistband, leaving his waist suspended and his toes touching the ground. This position was even stranger.
The two maids stared, dumbfounded.
For some reason, the same thought flashed through both their minds: They really know how to play!
With his feet touching the ground, Shen Yangge no longer felt as though he were falling. He hurriedly steadied himself and straightened up just as Shen Mother stepped through the courtyard entrance, then smoothed out his outer robe.
Whatever else happened, this was not the time to lay everything out for Shen Mother. He knew perfectly well that she had yet to accept what was between him and Chu Xuanzhen. Since he occupied her biological son's body, he could hardly defy her openly.
But he had no intention of hiding it forever, either. Shen Mother needed time to accept it, and he could use that time to ease her into it. Even if she remained unwilling in the end, he would not force her.
He would still treat Shen Mother as his own mother, honor her, and accommodate her in everything. But