In a Beijing hutong in 1979, morning sunlight filters past the gray-tiled eaves and falls on the smiling face of Lin Xiangyang, a seventeen-year-old high school student. No one knows that this boy, who is always fixing things for the neighbors and is known as the “class clown” of the courtyard, has accidentally bonded with Qiming, a pure-knowledge AI from the future.
With a vast cross-era knowledge base unfolding in his mind and precise analytical and deductive abilities as his secret weapon, Lin Xiangyang doesn't lose himself in fantasies. His “coal-saving tips” bring warmth to the neighborhood, his “little technical suggestions” help his father, a fitter at a steel mill, solve equipment problems, and his far-sighted perspective points the factory toward a new direction when it feels lost. When demolition threatens the courtyard, he also takes the lead in protecting the place that holds so many memories.
In an era of ration coupons, radios, and 28-inch bicycles, he uses his sunny humor to smooth over life's little troubles and the power of knowledge to kindle hope in those around him. From helping classmates overcome academic hurdles, to keeping factory workers in their jobs, to earning his way into a top university with outstanding grades, Lin Xiangyang never forgets: Qiming is the star that lights the road ahead, but the land beneath his feet, the family by his side, and the pulse of the times are what sustain him.
This is a story about knowledge, growing up, and an era. When a young man with a supercomputer for a brain meets the winds of reform and opening up, even ordinary days can give rise to the power to change the future.
