"Sir, something has happened to Ge’an."
Yu Fusheng frowned.
"Bob killed Hayes and Rovar and has become the new leader of White Gloves. Kuli is also dead, and Ma Kui’en has taken his place. The changes happened very quickly and were resolved just as fast. I’ve always underestimated Bob. I didn’t expect he really had some skills."
Yu Fusheng murmured, "Who is behind Bob?"
Han Li was shaken by Yu Fusheng’s sharp insight. Indeed, someone who could climb to this position must possess extraordinary cunning and strategy.
"There is indeed someone behind Bob, but our informants in Ge’an don’t have a high enough rank to obtain more information."
"Bob... White Gloves... Hayes, Kuli... Why now?"
Han Li looked puzzled. "Sir, what are you saying?"
Yu Fusheng immersed himself in thought, then suddenly stood up. "To the sanatorium."
Han Li froze for a moment, and then, realizing his intention, immediately instructed the driver to prepare the car.
Cold Mountain Sanatorium was a private, upscale facility. Each resident had their own large garden, arranged sequentially from the foot of the mountain to the summit. The sanatorium at the peak had the highest level of facilities and care.
Yu Yixin was living in the sanatorium at the summit.
The air here was fresh, and the environment was tranquil—ideal for patient recovery.
As Yu Fusheng stepped into the courtyard, he saw an elderly man with graying hair sitting in a wheelchair under a tree, his eyes vacant, drool trailing from one corner of his mouth, like a puppet—numb and empty.
A woman dressed in a caregiver’s uniform walked over, squatted down, and meticulously wiped the drool from the old man’s mouth with a handkerchief.
Suddenly the old man chuckled. "Lan’er... Lan’er..." He muttered a name unclearly as he reached out to grab the woman’s hair.
The woman forced a smile. "Sir, there’s a strong wind outside. Let’s go back inside."
As she was about to stand, the old man refused to let go, pulling at her long hair, his deeply wrinkled face lit by a childlike smile. "Lan’er... Lan’er..."
This eerie contrast inexplicably chilled the air.
Unable to hold back any longer, the woman slapped his hand away, her tone becoming sharper. "Enough. Stop it already."
The old man’s face shifted to a hurt expression, his mouth pouting, and he began crying like a child.
The woman snapped in irritation, "Stop crying..."
"What are you doing?" A cold voice cut through from behind.
The woman trembled all over, stiffly turning around. When she saw the man standing at the courtyard gate, her face turned pale in an instant, and she instinctively knelt to the ground.
"Mr... Mr. Yu, I’m sorry. I was wrong..."
The man stared coldly at her, his gaze chilling. The woman trembled uncontrollably, crouching low in submission and fear.
Han Li ordered the guards to take the woman away. He then closed the small courtyard’s door, called the director to hold them accountable, and started the search for a new caregiver.
The small courtyard returned to silence.
The old man stared at Yu Fusheng, giggling foolishly.
Yu Fusheng stepped forward, crouched down, and looked at the elderly man before him. "Dad, do you still remember me?"
In his memory, his father had always been intelligent, steady, and composed. No matter what, he could handle things perfectly. He had taken over the family’s revival torch from his grandfather and indeed succeeded, raising the Yu family to a new height.
But everything changed the year his mother passed away.
Although outsiders felt his father seemed calm, as if his wife’s death had not affected him, beneath that calm exterior brewed storms of emotional turmoil.
Gradually, his father became short-tempered, habitually repeated his words, experienced memory lapses, and sometimes fell into long silences.
Yu Fusheng sensed something was wrong and took him to the hospital for an examination. The diagnosis came like a thunderbolt on a sunny day.
He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
No family history, no bad lifestyle habits, and genetic testing revealed no issues. The doctors explained the cause as mental trauma leading to a central nervous system disorder—an increasingly degenerative brain disease causing cognitive impairment syndrome.
In simpler terms, external emotional trauma triggered neurological degeneration, developing into dementia.
Such causation was extraordinarily rare in medical terms, but it happened to Yu Yixin.
The disease progressed rapidly. Before long, he lost his ability to speak or care for himself, often muttering "Lan’er, Lan’er."
Lan’er was his mother’s maiden name.
The external trauma that triggered his neurological deterioration was his mother’s death.
For many years, Yu Fusheng couldn’t understand why. In his childhood, his parents’ relationship had been poor; they often quarreled. He thought his father had little affection for his mother, marrying her only to fulfill the elders’ expectations of producing heirs. His father had devoted himself almost entirely to his career.