I AM

Chapter 16

"Who are you?" Oh, please, please, not here, Zhao Yunlan prayed.

"I...I am Guo Changcheng," the voice was timid.

"Guo Changcheng?" Zhao Yunlan asked in a soft voice.

"Y-yes. Thank you for saving me. That was so scary," he whimpered and hid his face in his knees again.

"Come, let's go to a safer place. Can you stand?" Zhao Yunlan gently tried to raise the shivering figure.

"Don't leave me." His eyes were dilated with fear.

"I'm right here, alright?" Zhao Yunlan put his arm around his shoulders, and they began to walk back to the mansion. With his other hand, he quickly texted President Zhao.

They met President Zhao and Jia Qiu halfway down the long driveway to the mansion. Jia Qiu gently hung a worn-out black bag across his chest. The personality called Guo Changcheng grabbed on to the straps and stopped shivering.

"Looks like you guessed right, Jia Qiu," President Zhao said.

"I don't know the names of all the personalities, but Zhao Yunlan's description helped," Jia Qiu replied. "He would sometimes look for this bag."

"Shen Wei often carried this with him as a child. It was his father's," President Zhao said in a soft voice.

They all sat in Shen Wei's room, watching Guo Changcheng sit in a corner, still clinging to the bag, his eyes closed.

"It wasn't Uncle or Zhu Jiu this time," Guo Changcheng kept saying.

"No, they weren't around, Guo Changcheng," Zhao Yunlan assured him, as he hesitantly reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I knew it. The other times were just accidents, too. They didn't mean it," Guo Changcheng visibly calmed and leaned into Zhao Yunlan's hand. "Call me Little Guo. Everyone else does."

"Okay, Little Guo. I'm Zhao Yunlan. It's very nice to meet you," he could not help from smiling. This personality was so sweet, so naive.

"I know you, Zhao Yunlan. You are kind to us," Little Guo smiled back.

Us. That plural again. So far, he had met Yezun, Zhu Hong, and now Little Guo, all very different personalities. No wonder everyone thought Shen Wei had erratic mood swings.

"If everyone just understood Uncle and Zhu Jiu, maybe even be nice to them, they wouldn't do those mean things," Little Guo continued.

"Mean things? Like what?" President Zhao's voice was sharp.

"Don't wanna say. You'll punish them, and then they'll be mean to me again," Little Guo pushed himself more into the corner.

"How old are you, Little Guo?" Jia Qiu tactfully moved in front of President Zhao and kneeled next to Zhao Yunlan.

"I'm ten, I think. I couldn't keep track of my birthdays at Uncle's house," Little Guo's voice was sad. "But it's not Uncle's fault. Father was always scolding him about work. Uncle needed something...someone to take his anger out on..." Little Guo's voice faded out.

"We eventually found out he was being mistreated," President Zhao whispered. "Unfortunately, two years had already gone by, and Shen Wei never told us what was happening. We only found out when -" he hesitated, "- someone told us about it. It was a neighborhood boy who sometimes played with him when he was allowed outside. When he was found on the property, Zhu Jiu and his father would beat him and chase him off."

"But the boy kept coming back. He was such a brave lad," Jia Qiu said, looking at Zhao Yunlan.

"He was my only friend. I tried to be friends with Zhu Jiu, too, but he didn't like me," Little Guo said sadly. "Uncle was also really busy with work, so he couldn't spend much time with Zhu Jiu. Zhu Jiu was lonely, too, I think."