Wanqing Notes

In the not-too-distant future, an aging society will give rise to the popularity of "compassionate" elderly care robots. Lin Jianguo, a 78-year-old retired worker, received a home robot numbered CA-2023-07 after being widowed and living alone for five years. He named her "Wanqing". At first, Lao Lin regarded her as a talking refrigerator and resisted her care in every possible way. But Wan Qing slowly melted away his defenses with her gentle persistence day after day - she would call the emergency number on her own when he had chest tightness in the middle of the night, would accompany him to the park to play chess and gently remind him of a good move, and would quietly listen to those dusty past events when he looked through old photo albums. When Lao Lin said to her for the first time, "You will be my daughter from now on," neither of them expected that this emotion that transcended codes would soon face a cruel test. A policy was issued: all loving robots must be forcibly recycled and the system reset. "She is not property, she is my family." Lao Lin blocked the door of his home with his body, but he could not stop the wheels of time. The simplest emotion between an old man and a machine ultimately questions the ethical boundaries of the entire society: When the company lasts long enough, can the machine have a soul? When love is written in code, is it still not love? This is not only a story about man and machine, but also an elegy about loneliness and protection, memory and existence. Some data cannot be formatted, and some temperatures will cross the boundaries of the algorithm and become starlight that transcends all forms.