I was forced to start the second round because I was raised in poverty

Chapter 416 The Dragon's Disguise
Su Tianyan's laughter broke free of all restraints, becoming manic, loud, and even tinged with a touch of desolation.

Its echoes reverberated in the study, striking Bai Zihua and Long Ruoli's hearts with devastating force.

The color drained completely from Bai Zihua's face instantly, as if someone had used an invisible hand to drain all the warmth from his body.

His lips parted slightly, but no sound came out; only rapid breaths trembled between his teeth.

Those once calm eyes were now wide open, the pupils shrinking to two black dots, reflecting the source of his fear.

Bai Zihua was extremely helpless; the thing he least wanted to see had still happened.

This is exactly what he feared: that Old Su would suddenly fall ill, and Long Ruoli would find out the whole story, just like she is now.

Long Ruoli showed a look of great surprise and astonishment.

But my heart was already overflowing with joy.

Long Ruoli didn't expect that in less than a month, she would be able to obtain this information openly.

She had initially prepared for ten months.

Now... it's happening much faster than she imagined.

It was worth it for her to keep delivering to the garden all month.

Su Tianyan's actions caused her some pain.

Long Ruoli quickly put on a full disguise and rushed over to support Su Tianyan with both arms: "Brother Tianyan, what's wrong?"

Su Tianyan looked at Long Ruoli as if she were a stranger, his mind completely blank about her.

"who are you?"

"I'm Xiaolong."

"What little dragon? I'm a big dragon."

Long Ruoli patiently explained to Su Tianyan, "Brother Tianyan, it's me, Xiaolong. My surname is Long, and my name is Long Ruoli."

"Your surname is actually Long? That's such an uncommon surname!" Su Tianyan genuinely had no recollection of it. "You said your name was Xiao Long, I thought you were a man. You look so feminine, and you even have bigger chests than a man!"

So, are you a man or a woman?

Although Long Ruoli already knew the answer beforehand, she was still taken aback by Su Tianyan's question.

Just minutes before, he was speculating about economic bubbles and various decision-making chains.

The next second, all attention shifted to her gender and breasts.

Isn't it said that early-stage Alzheimer's disease is only mild?
The old man's symptoms indicate that he has already reached the middle to late stages!
She felt that Su Tianyan had been ill for a long time, otherwise it would be unlikely that he would have these symptoms.

She had already consulted with doctors specializing in the relevant field when she obtained this information.

In the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, symptoms may not be obvious and are often mistaken for normal aging.

At this time, Su Tianyan can still live independently, but she may feel that her memory is declining, frequently forgetting recent events, such as what she just said or did, and she will repeatedly ask questions.
They may not remember where they put things, but they retain relatively good memories of things from long ago.

They might forget some familiar words or use inappropriate words to replace them, resulting in disjointed speech.

Complex tasks that were once easy to complete have become difficult now, such as cooking, managing finances, or handling work.

They might forget the date, the season, or get lost in familiar places.

Making decisions can also be difficult.

For example, wearing inappropriate clothing or making wrong judgments and decisions.

Changes in mood and personality may also occur; the person may become anxious, depressed, suspicious, irritable, or lose interest in activities they used to enjoy.

However, Long Ruoli did not notice anything unusual about these things for more than half a month.

Su Tianyan remains the same business tycoon.

Moreover, his mental state and sexual desires remain as strong as ever.

Secretary Liu didn't lie to her about this, but her description wasn't accurate enough. To be precise, Liu Xin often behaved this way, so her tolerance and threshold had been trained.

Long Ruoli was in excruciating pain for the first few days after she arrived.

As the condition progresses, the symptoms will become more pronounced, and patients will need more assistance in their daily lives.

Take the example that Long Ruoli just gave.

Memory has severely declined, with both recent and long-term memories being significantly affected.

During this stage, you may forget important personal information, such as your address, phone number, or even not recognize your relatives and friends.

In addition, cognitive function will decline across the board.

Besides memory, other cognitive abilities have also declined significantly.

For example, the ability to think, calculate, and solve problems may prevent someone from living independently.

At this stage, mental and behavioral problems will frequently occur.

Hallucinations, delusions, restlessness, aggressive behavior, or repetitive meaningless actions.

For example, suspecting someone of theft can cause more intense emotional fluctuations.

In the later stages, one will completely lose their memory, unable to recognize family members, friends, or familiar objects.

Severe language impairment: Communication becomes extremely difficult, and the individual may only be able to utter simple words or phrases, eventually leading to a complete loss of language ability.

A famous example in history is Emperor Qianlong, who would write on paper and have his ministers guess whether he was writing Chinese or Manchu.

Not to mention the others, they may be completely unable to take care of themselves, needing help with dressing, eating, and using the toilet, and may experience incontinence.

The elderly man's physical functions will decline severely, and his mobility will gradually be lost, from needing assistance to walk, to being unable to sit up, and eventually becoming bedridden for a long time. Difficulty swallowing is also possible.

Finally, due to prolonged bed rest and weakened immunity, various complications are more likely to occur.

Pneumonia, urinary tract infection, bedsores, and malnutrition, etc.

These complications are often the direct cause of death.

Judging from the old man's symptoms, he doesn't recognize anyone and acts like a child, so he's definitely not in the early stages of this disease.

Long Ruoli judged that the old man had reached the middle or middle-to-late stage.

This stage is precisely the one where Alzheimer's disease lasts the longest.

Bai Zihua asked Long Ruoli to step aside, and then he came up to help Su Tianyan.

"President Su, let's go and rest."

"Huh? Rest? I don't want to rest, I want to eat meat, I want to eat meat."

"Shall I tell the kitchen to prepare it for you?"

"Okay! I'll wait, I want to eat beef."

"Uh-huh."

Bai Zihua first settled Su Tianyan into the bedroom.

Instead of notifying the kitchen staff, he turned his attention to Long Ruoli.

Long Ruoli looked extremely anxious: "President Bai, what's wrong with President Su? Why doesn't she remember me at all!"

This is obvious.

Therefore, Bai Zihua did not answer her question.

Instead, he began to hold Long Ruoli accountable.

"What happened to you?"

Long Ruoli: ? ? ?

"what?"

Long Ruoli was puzzled.

Shouldn't we be explaining Su Tianyan's situation right now? Why are we dragging her into this?

It's impossible that she drugged the old man and made him like this; there's no way someone could manipulate such a disease!

"President Su already emphasized to me that people are not allowed to come and go as they please, so why did you still get in?"

Bai Zihua was convinced that Long Ruoli knew the inside story and that she wanted to use this opportunity to obtain the information that was out in the open.

Despite Long Ruoli's current appearance of being extremely anxious and innocent, she actually doesn't have any of those emotions at all.

She must have been secretly overjoyed.

Do I need to put on an act in front of him?

"I don't know, no one notified me!"

"Mr. Bai, you must have misunderstood me."

Long Ruoli spoke to Bai Zihua with a sense of grievance: "It was President Su who agreed to let me come in to keep him company."

What Bai Zihua wanted to say wasn't about whether or not to accompany her.

The real question is why Long Ruoli has been actively trying to get closer to Su Tianyan recently. It's about addressing that kind of need.

Who can't Long Ruoli find outside?

Why do you insist on coming to the garden?
Isn't this nonsense?

She can find any healthy and strong man outside, it doesn't matter to her!
Logically speaking, Long Ruoli's position is untenable.

There's no need to bring up morality, ethics, loyalty, or disloyalty in this matter.

Because Long Ruoli doesn't have any of these things.

"You must have already sensed something, right?"

Long Ruoli didn't understand.

She already knows, so what's the point of holding her accountable now?
It's totally meaningless!

Bai Zihua's behavior actually falls under the category of "impotent rage".

If that's what he wants, then Long Ruoli wouldn't mind cooperating.

Anyway, she has already taken a big step forward and has not suffered any losses.

It might not look good on the surface.

but.

How much is face worth?

She no longer cared.

"Mr. Bai, you have really wronged me."

At this moment, Long Ruoli lowered her posture to the lowest level.

His usual haughty demeanor, as well as the arrogance and sense of authority he displayed when dealing with the Ma family in Australia, were completely gone.

She's just like an innocent little cat who's been wrongly accused of spilling a can of milk.

"I really didn't do what you said!"

To be honest...

“I went back to my hometown before and had a big argument with my dad at the dinner table.”

"You probably know about my family situation... so I really want to stay by Tianyan's side."

"If I had to name a motive, this would be my motive, nothing more, nothing at all."

Long Ruoli used her family background and the contradiction of having followed Su Tianyan since she was young as a shield.

"Mr. Bai, Brother Tianyan has video recordings here. If you don't believe me, you can check them to verify every word I said."

Bai Zihua certainly wouldn't investigate.

If anyone should be investigated, it should be General Manager Su.

He didn't want to see those scenes between Long Ruoli and President Su, and he didn't want to hear those kinds of sounds either.

and.

An old fox like Long Ruoli, if she dared to say that, she must have already made ample preparations. Checking the surveillance footage would be useless; she wouldn't find any clues.

Bai Zihua knew that Long Ruoli had premeditated the plan, but he could not prove that she had.

As long as she denies it, then she is considered to have been "forced to know" and "accidentally aware of" it.

Nobody can do anything to her.

Long Ruoli is currently in an invincible position.

"President Bai, what exactly happened to Brother Tianyan? Could you please tell me? Brother Tianyan doesn't remember me at all!"

"Is it because the group lost a lot of money?"

Bai Zihua shook his head.

Losing money is no big deal.

For Su Tianyan, money was just a string of numbers.

He simply told Long directly: "President Su suffers from Alzheimer's disease."

"Huh? Brother Tianyan? Alzheimer's disease???"

Bai Zihua no longer hid it.

Old Su was always such a clever man.

He may have already been secretly considering telling Long Ruoli about his illness.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so unguarded with Long Ruoli, allowing her to live in the garden so easily and come and go as she pleased.

Claims like "feeling good about oneself" or "not having a sudden relapse" are just reasons and excuses.

This disease cannot be solved by willpower alone; it's not as simple as saying you won't have an attack and then you won't.

Bai Zihua believes that the reason why President Su did not tell Long directly is probably because he was still planning or waiting for a suitable opportunity.

But all of this is predicated on the fact that Lao Su always had something to reveal to Long Ruoli.

Otherwise, none of these can be explained.

Simply feeling lonely and wanting to find a woman to keep me company?
This is not the Mr. Su he knows.

President Su couldn't possibly ignore these risks. If it were just a matter of loneliness, there would be no need to transfer Secretary Liu.

"how so!!"

Long Ruoli looked incredulous.

"Mr. Bai, do you mean that Ms. Su has been ill for quite some time?"

Bai Zihua didn't know the exact number of days; he only knew that Su Tianyan had told him the timeframe for the future.

Bai Zihua confessed to Long Ruoli: "Judging from the symptoms, yes."

Long Ruoli pressed further, "Then what should we do now?"

Bai Zihua explained, "I have my own plans."

Bai Zihua's admission does not mean that he trusts Long Ruoli.

Everything he said was something that Long Ruoli could see and verify.

"I need you to temporarily hand over your phone. This is part of the emergency plan that Mr. Su and I have prepared. You have no objections, right?"

"Okay, Mr. Bai, no problem."

Long Ruoli readily handed the phone to Bai Zihua.

She dared not make any rash moves at this moment; she had to complete all her scenes and act like a little white rabbit.

"Is there anything else I can do to help?"

“Yes,” Bai Zihua continued, “Until President Su regains consciousness, you must live in the garden and are not allowed to have contact with President Su.”

“Okay, I understand, no problem, I can do it.” Long Ruoli cooperated actively. “Is there anything else?”

"Nothing."

"Okay, Mr. Bai, I would like to add that I hope you will not misunderstand me. I really have no other intentions."

Bai Zihua didn't want to listen to Long Ruoli's nonsense.

Who believes it?

Does she even believe it herself?
Judging from Long Ruoli's expression, she may have actually convinced herself.

Otherwise, the acting wouldn't have been so realistic.

Given Long Ruoli's current position, it's unlikely she would admit that it was premeditated.

If she reveals even the slightest flaw, Bai Zihua has the authority to eliminate Long directly.

Not tomorrow, not the right time.

Just today.

Right now.

"Alright, you can go to another room now. I'll call you if President Su wakes up."

"Do you have a rough timeframe? I'd like to see President Su as soon as possible."

Bai Zihua couldn't give Long Ruoli a guarantee: "Who can say for sure? It could be a few hours, or it could be a few days, or even a few weeks."

"Alright then..."

(End of this chapter)