My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

Chapter 286 Let's find a way to escape

The younger brother asked, "Are you really capable of doing this to save your own life? Wan Cheng, I misjudged you."

"It's all about survival." Wan Cheng closed his eyes in anguish. "You saw it yourself, it wasn't just those cats and dogs, it was us."

The younger brother fell silent.

Wan Cheng walked over, took the cat's head and placed it next to the corpse, piecing it together to form a complete cat. He couldn't stop his tears.

"At first, I was extremely resistant and scared, but what could I do? I was already numb to it."

"Jing'an, do you know how the students who studied before and after me died, or how they went insane?"

"Be bold, careful, and obedient; if you lack any one of these, you won't survive!"

The two remained silent for a moment before the younger brother finally spoke: "Even if it means death, I will not compromise."

"But what about your family? Don't you think about them?"

The younger brother said, "If they knew that I had done such a heinous thing just to survive, they would only be disappointed in me."

Wan Cheng shook his head: "No, what I'm trying to say is, if they knew you were dead, and tortured to death, just like these little animals, what would they do?"

The younger brother was stunned and completely dumbfounded.

Wan Cheng continued, "Moreover, even if you die, the Third Prince and the others will not suffer any loss. Such incidents will continue to occur one after another."

"Outrageous!" The younger brother clenched his fist. "If I am tortured to death, my sisters will definitely find out the truth, and perhaps the Third Prince will never have the chance to do such a thing again!"

Wan Cheng gave a bitter smile: "Si Jing'an, how could you be so naive? He's the emperor's son; he's capable of anything. If you die, and the Marquis of Anle's mansion seeks justice for you, he'll just push someone out to take the blame. Maybe it'll be the eunuch, maybe it'll be me, and if neither works, maybe it'll be Tang Yansen. In short, he won't be guilty of anything."

The younger brother was stunned, and his whole body went limp.

Wan Cheng added, "I've played with them twice, both times with small animals like cats and dogs. But as far as I know, they didn't play with these things before I came. The companions are from noble families, so this situation is relatively good, but those missing servants reappear every now and then..."

I am completely bewildered, and I don't know whether my insistence is right or wrong.

Wan Cheng continued, "Later, the emperor must have become suspicious and replaced a group of people around the third prince. The third prince and his men dared not attack people anymore, so they began to look for animals that were not easily discovered."

There was a noise at the door, and Wan Cheng shut his mouth.

Tang Yansen came in and saw that the two people were sitting. He sneered and placed a pot of water on the table.

“Look, Yang Yan was worried that you would get thirsty from talking to him, so he specially asked me to bring you water.”

As he spoke, he slapped his underling on the shoulder, raised an eyebrow, and said, "You know what's good for you. We're still friends."

Tang Yansen was very satisfied that his younger brother no longer showed the same resistance as before. He patted his face, raised his eyebrows triumphantly, and then left.

Wan Cheng said, "Tang Yansen is brainless. He basically does whatever the Third Prince or Yang Yan says. He just came here under the guise of delivering water to monitor us."

"Hmm," the younger brother responded softly, though his mind was in turmoil.

Wan Cheng continued, "Among us, Yang Yan is the most intelligent, and the Third Prince listens to him very much. Jing'an, if you want to live and avoid punishment, try to beg Yang Yan. He can definitely persuade the Third Prince to let you go."

The younger brother looked bewildered, then nodded after thinking for a moment: "I also think that Yang Yan has always been very gentle and articulate, and he takes good care of us."

Wan Cheng breathed a sigh of relief: "I told them to call Yang Yan."

There were eunuchs guarding the outside; they couldn't leave without the Third Prince's permission. Wan Cheng sent someone to find Yang Yan, then returned to comfort his younger brother.

Not long after, Yang Yan came in.

At just one glance, the younger brother felt a chill run down his spine, and he suddenly realized what was happening.

Yang Yan is indeed intelligent, but he is by no means easy to talk to. In fact, he may even be the one who started this whole thing.

The Third Prince has a bad temper and is very reckless. He usually gets a lot of help from Yang Yan's guidance and restraint. Even Consort Xin is very happy, saying that with Yang Yan around, the Third Prince has become much more sensible.

However, why didn't Yang Yan interfere with the animal abuse? In fact, Yang Yan's actions today were not to plead for mercy, but to incite trouble, hoping that the Third Prince would kill this unyielding outcast.

The younger brother understood everything and wanted to speak.

But Wan Cheng had already spoken up: "Yang Yan, please help me out and ask His Highness to give Jing'an more time. Jing'an has only been here for less than a month and doesn't know much about many things."

"is it?"

Wan Cheng nodded: "Yang Yan, His Highness listens to your advice the most. Please help him out. You usually like Jing'an quite a bit, don't you?"

Yang Yan looked at his younger brother with a half-smile and said calmly, "Are you sure you want me to persuade him?"

When Wan Cheng nodded in agreement, his underling grabbed him.

"Need not!"

Wan Cheng was taken aback: "Jing An, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you already?"

He frantically tried to signal to his underling, but the underling didn't look at him and just stared blankly.

"If the price for you to beg His Highness is that Wan Cheng dies in my place, I will never agree."

Upon hearing this, Yang Yan raised an eyebrow.

Wan Cheng's eyes widened, his body went limp, and he fell off the chair: "You...you...you..."

He then realized that Yang Yan's earlier "confirmed" actually meant that he should die in place of Si Jing'an.

Yang Yan's expression quickly turned cold, and he said to his underling, "You're too smart; you're not suited to stay here."

He didn't say much and quickly went out.

Wan Cheng was still slumped on the ground. It took him a long time to raise his head. He said in a panic, "No, they really will kill you. Yang Yan has murderous intent towards you. No matter how much I beg, the Third Prince will kill you."

I was initially somewhat dissatisfied with Wan Cheng, feeling that he had gone along with the corrupt practices and couldn't maintain his own principles.

But now, a feeling of gratitude welled up in his heart. Perhaps Wan Cheng wasn't that good, but he wasn't bad either. The heinous things he did were all forced upon him.

"I have to find a way to get you out of here, you have to run!"

Wan Cheng inspected the entire house, but unfortunately all the windows were sealed shut and could not be opened. There were two eunuchs guarding the door, and Yang Yan and Tang Yansen were also there.

How could two people possibly defeat four, especially one of them being as burly and fierce as Tang Yansen?

"What do we do? What do we do!"

The younger brother thought calmly for a moment and said, "We can only outsmart them. We can take on one of the two eunuchs outside and subdue them. Yang Yan is smart, but he's not in good health, so he's easy to deal with. The key is Tang Yansen. Do we have any way to deal with him?"