When You Forget, I'll Remember, Chapter 20

Late afternoon, about half past five, warm gold light with long soft shadows under a clear cloudless late-summer sky, the air still. The square stone table with its carved board seen side-on, under the two green ginkgo trees. Xiaoyu, thirty-five, sits on Grandpa's round stone stool at the LEFT in her light moss-green linen overshirt worn open over a white t-shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows, the red notebook's corner in the overshirt's RIGHT chest pocket, her body and face turned fully to the viewer's RIGHT. She holds a hand fan of cards low in her near RIGHT hand, the card faces towards herself and the plain red backs to us, her far LEFT arm hidden behind her body, with a sly, warm half smile, looking at An, NOT at us. An, seven, sits on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT in her red cotton summer dress, body and face turned fully to the viewer's LEFT, leaning in over her side of the board with her chin on both fists, brow knitted at the cards; her own cards lie face down in a small stack by her elbow. On the carved board between them four red-backed cards lie in a small trick. A tall clear glass of pale green tea (no lid) stands at the board's LEFT corner by Xiaoyu. The lake glows gold behind them, the arched stone bridge at centre left in the distance and the red pavilion at the right. Two faces. The green ginkgo leaves and the big quiet sky in the top third are the quiet area for the title. No Bean. No writing anywhere.

Chapter 20第二十章When You Forget, I'll Remember你忘了，我记得

Wednesday 31 August, about three in the afternoon, hot and still, a pale haze over the glassy lake under a cloudless late-summer sky, deep shade under the two green ginkgo trees. Xiaoyu, thirty-five, sits alone on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT of the stone table in a light moss-green linen overshirt worn open over a white t-shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows, pale stone linen trousers and white trainers; the red notebook's corner shows in the overshirt's RIGHT chest pocket. She is turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards the board, so her LEFT arm and watch are on the far side, hidden. The carved board is set with the dark brown and cream wooden pieces. With her RIGHT hand she pours pale green tea from the red-and-gold flowered thermos into a tall clear glass (no lid) standing at the board's LEFT corner. The blue chess bag stands open on the stone by her LEFT hip, a worn red-backed deck of cards and a black pen tucked into its open mouth. One face, small. The hazy sky above is the quiet area for the caption.

Bridge City, 31 August 2050. Grandpa would have been ninety-four today.二〇五〇年八月三十一日，桥城。外公要是还在，今天该九十四了。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, the shade of the ginkgo leaves moving on the stone. Close on the tall clear glass of pale green tea at the board's LEFT corner, a few tea leaves turning slowly down to the bottom, the carved board's grey squares beside it. At the LEFT edge only Xiaoyu's RIGHT hand and the red-and-gold thermos withdrawing, her black watch on her LEFT wrist is out of frame. No face. The plain stone around is the quiet area for the caption.

My grandpa used to pour a cup of tea for my grandma, who had died. Today I poured one for him.外婆走后，外公泡茶总要给她也倒上一杯。今天，我给外公倒了一杯。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Down the lakeside path under the plane trees in full green leaf, deep shade on the paving, a small girl in a red cotton summer dress, white ankle socks and white trainers runs towards us, holding Bean, a cream-white bean-shaped robot the size of a small melon, in both arms against her chest with its small round grille of tiny dots facing forward towards us (a small dark lens on top, no light, no glow, no face). Her yellow hair ties bounce, there is a gap where a top front tooth was in her delighted grin. Far behind her, small, the celadon-green tea cart stands by the path. One face. The pale sky above is the quiet area. Wordless.

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. An stands at the RIGHT end of the stone table on tiptoe in her red summer dress, setting Bean down on the plain stone beside the carved board with both hands, NOT on the board, Bean's small round grille of tiny dots facing LEFT towards Xiaoyu (no light, no glow, no face, a dark lens dot on top). Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT in her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt, her eyebrows up and a small smile, the tall clear glass of tea at the board's LEFT corner by her. Two faces in the lower middle band. Bean's voice comes from its grille, and the tail of its bubble points to the grille. The hazy sky above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

On this day in 1955, scientists first wrote the words "artificial intelligence".1955年的今天，科学家第一次写下“人工智能”这四个字。

One year before my grandpa was born. To the day.比我外公出生早整整一年，连日子都一样。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Close on An sitting on Uncle Wu's stool, her chin just above the stone table's edge, both hands flat on the stone either side of Bean. Bean sits at the very bottom edge of the panel with its small round grille towards us (no light, no face). An is deadly curious and looks straight at Xiaoyu off panel, not at Bean. One face in the middle of the panel; the green ginkgo shade behind and above is the quiet area for the bubble.

What was the world like before robots like Bean? When you were little?还没有豆豆这种机器人的时候，世界是什么样？就是你小时候？

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT in her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt, thinking, her RIGHT forefinger raised. An has climbed onto Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT and holds Bean on her lap in both arms, its small round grille facing LEFT towards Xiaoyu (no light, no face). Two faces in the lower middle. The pale hazy sky and the green leaves above are the quiet band for the box.

There were no robots like Bean. Phones talked, but not very well.那会儿还没有豆豆这种机器人。手机倒是会说话，就是说得不怎么样。

THE NAME. On 31 August 1955, four scientists wrote a plan for a two-month summer study at Dartmouth College. It is the first place the words "artificial intelligence" appear. Today that name is 95 years old.名字的由来。1955年8月31日，四位科学家写了一份计划书，提议夏天在达特茅斯学院开展为期两个月的研究。“人工智能”这个词，最早就出现在这份计划书里。这个名字今年95岁了。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Close on An, unimpressed, one eyebrow lower than the other, her lips pressed, Bean's cream top just showing at the bottom edge of the panel. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

So it was the same as now, but worse?那不就跟现在一样，只是差一点？

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu laughing ruefully, her RIGHT hand at the back of her neck, her eyes crinkled, in her moss-green overshirt. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area for the caption.

Last November I talked for eleven minutes and put An to sleep. This time two sentences were too few.去年十一月，我一讲就是十一分钟，把安讲睡着了。这回只讲两句，她不满意。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. An leans across the carved board from Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT and points with her near LEFT hand at the full tall glass of pale green tea at the board's LEFT corner, her far RIGHT arm hidden behind her body. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT looks down at the glass, her face gentle. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green ginkgo shade above is the quiet area for the bubble.

Whose tea is that? Nobody is drinking it.那杯茶是谁的呀？都没人喝。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT has her near RIGHT hand resting on the stone beside the tall glass of tea, not touching it; An on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT watches Xiaoyu's face. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubble.

This tea is for my grandpa. Today is his birthday.给我外公的。今天是他生日。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An turning her head to look along the empty lakeside path behind her, hopeful, her eyes wide, her yellow bunches swinging. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

Is your grandpa coming?你外公会来吗？

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu, gentle and plain, turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards An off panel, in her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

My grandpa died before you were born.你还没出生，我外公就走了。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. An sits on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, hugging Bean against her chest with both arms (its small round grille facing away from us, no light, no face), her chin set, looking LEFT at Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu, small, at the LEFT edge on Grandpa's stool in her moss-green overshirt. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green ginkgo shade above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

I want to meet him.我想见见他。

You promised to teach me his card game.你答应过的，要教我玩你外公的牌。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, plane-tree shade. At the next stone table a few steps to the LEFT of Grandpa's, Haoran, thirty-six, in his white short-sleeved shirt and grey trousers, and Mira, about thirty-eight, in her sleeveless sage-green linen dress, sit side by side on the round stools with two paper cups of tea and a cloth bag on the stone, both turned three-quarters to the viewer's RIGHT towards Xiaoyu's table. Haoran's ear that we see is his bare RIGHT ear (his white earbud is in his LEFT ear, on the far side); his chest is turned a little towards us so the cream envelope's edge shows in the breast pocket on the LEFT of his chest, and his near RIGHT hand rests flat on the stone. Mira's small clear earbud shows in her RIGHT ear; her near RIGHT hand rests on Haoran's forearm to stop him; the paper cups stand on the stone. They speak quietly. Two faces in the lower middle band. The celadon tea cart is small behind them. The pale sky and green leaves above are the quiet area for the bubbles.

We fly home tomorrow at dawn. Should I give her the letter about her grandpa now?我们明天天一亮就走了。写外公的那封信，现在给她吗？

Not yet. Wait until later.先别。等晚点吧。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT takes the small worn dark red notebook (black elastic band) out of her overshirt's RIGHT chest pocket with her RIGHT hand. An leans in from Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, her eyes on the notebook. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

My grandpa wrote down the people he loved, so he would not lose them.外公把他爱的人都记在这里，怕把他们弄丢了。

The first page is me, when I was eleven.第一页就是我，那年我十一岁。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close from directly above on the notebook's first page lying flat on the grey stone, cream paper, an old man's careful hand, the page painted BLANK and lettered in afterwards. No hands, no faces. The stone around is quiet. (as ch01 21.2, the same note)

Zhou Xiaoyu. Granddaughter. Eleven. Likes cards. Learning Chinese. Very clever.

周小雨。外孙女。十一岁。喜欢打牌。在学中文。很聪明。周小雨。外孙女。十一岁。喜欢打牌。在学中文。很聪明。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An delighted, leaning in, turned to the viewer's LEFT, pointing with her near LEFT forefinger at the page off panel, her mouth open and the gap in her teeth showing. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

Eleven! That is so old!十一岁！那么老啦！

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on the stone table: the closed dark red notebook, and An's small RIGHT hand reaching in from the RIGHT edge while Xiaoyu's RIGHT hand, coming from the LEFT edge, closes over the notebook and draws it back towards her. Only hands, one each, the notebook between them. No faces. The plain stone around is the quiet area for the caption.

I had never let anyone else hold Grandpa's notebook.外公的本子，我从来不让别人碰。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT holds the small notebook open in both hands, upright at her chest, its pages facing her so that we see only the back of its dark red cover; her black watch on her LEFT wrist. An on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, chin on her fists, listens. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green ginkgo leaves and sky above are the quiet area for the bubble.

When I was eleven, nobody had a robot like Bean. Let me tell you.我十一岁那会儿，谁家都没有豆豆这种机器人。我讲给你听。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT, the closed notebook lying in her lap, tells the story with her RIGHT hand flat on the stone beside the carved board, where a laptop once stood. She wears her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt. An on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, chin on her fists, her eyes on Xiaoyu. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the caption.

Summer 2026. Twelve-year-old Haoran's laptop beat old Uncle Wu at chess, right at this table.二〇二六年夏天，就在这张石桌上，十二岁的浩然带来的笔记本电脑下棋赢了吴伯伯。

(as ch01 4.3) Summer 2026, a memory painted in the bright colours of Chapter 1, not the 2050 afternoon. Uncle Wu flaps his straw-coloured palm-leaf fan, held by its handle, at the open silver laptop whose edge shows at the panel's bottom-LEFT corner (its screen facing away towards Haoran's seat, as in the panel before); he looks down to the left at it; his face sits in the middle of the panel, NOT in the top quarter; his face is scornful, lip curled, a loud

‹Pah. That's not clever. It just calculates.›嗐！这算哪门子聪明，不就是会算嘛。

(as ch01 4.4) Summer 2026, a memory painted in the bright colours of Chapter 1, not the 2050 afternoon. Grandpa sips tea from a tall clear drinking glass of pale green tea with a few leaves floating in it, held in his big hand, eyes twinkling, amused and knowing. The edge of his Western chessboard shows in the foreground, pieces standing on squares. Glasses on the cord at his chest, NOT on his face. Willows and lake behind him are soft and quiet under a bright blue midsummer sky.

‹When I was young, we all said chess showed who was truly clever.›我年轻那会儿，大家都说，棋下得好才叫真聪明。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. An stands up on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT of the table in her red summer dress, fanning Bean with a big green fan-shaped ginkgo leaf held by its stem in her RIGHT hand, her LEFT hand on her hip, her upper lip curled and her chin up in a perfect Uncle Wu. Bean sits on the stone in front of her, its small round grille facing us (no light, no glow, no face). One face. The green leaves and pale sky above are the quiet area for the bubble.

Pah! It just calculates!嗐！不就是会算嘛！

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT laughs, her near RIGHT hand reaching across to rest gently on An's arm and pull her down onto the stone stool at the RIGHT, the notebook in her lap. An sits down, still grinning. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubble.

Chess was easy for machines, even then. The hard things were small, like pouring tea.那时候，机器下棋就已经不难了。难的反倒是倒茶这种小事。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT tips her head towards the next stone table off to her LEFT, smiling; An on the stone stool at the RIGHT turns to look. At the next table, small, Haoran sits turned to the viewer's RIGHT (the ear we see is his bare RIGHT ear), hiding a grin behind a paper cup held in his RIGHT hand. Three faces, Haoran's small. The green shade above is the quiet area for the caption.

That same summer, Haoran had a robot vacuum that cleaned his floor.也是那年夏天，浩然有台扫地机器人，替他扫地。

(as ch01 8.2) Summer 2026, a memory painted in the bright colours of Chapter 1, not the 2050 afternoon. Later that morning, back at Grandpa's flat after the market. In Grandpa's living room, Haoran's robot vacuum, a flat round grey disc with a bumper and no face, no eyes, is STUCK: it has climbed half onto a crumpled white sock at the edge of the sofa, its front tipped up, one side wheel lifted off the tiles and spinning in the air (small motion lines round that wheel). The robot and the sock are the clearest thing, in the CENTRE of the picture, whole and uncut, the sock clearly a sock (heel and toe), lying UNDER the robot, NOT in Haoran's hand. Haoran lies on his front on the far side of it, chin on his hands, glaring at the robot, cheeks puffed, NOT touching it. His one earbud is in his LEFT ear (on the viewer's right as he faces us), the other ear bare. The sofa's front edge shows only as a thin strip at the top; the wall above it is the quiet area.

Just one room to clean, and one sock beats it. Every time.就扫一间屋子，还回回让一只袜子卡住。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An, her mouth wide open in delighted astonishment, the gap in her teeth showing. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

One sock beat it?一只袜子就把它卡住啦？

(as ch01 8.4) Summer 2026, a memory painted in the bright colours of Chapter 1, not the 2050 afternoon. Morning. Haoran (left) sits on the floor holding the freed robot vacuum on his lap, a plain grey disc with no face; his face is grudging, admitting defeat. Xiaoyu (right) sits beside him holding a small blue-and-white tea cup in both hands, amused, a gentle smile. Sitting, his head is half a head higher than hers. The sofa back and the wall above are the quiet area.

Chess is easy for machines. Pouring tea and dodging socks is hard.下棋对机器来说容易。倒茶、躲袜子，反倒难。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. On the paving beside the table An crouches at the RIGHT, turned to the viewer's LEFT towards Bean, one white trainer off, dropping a white sock on the stone in front of Bean with her near LEFT hand, her far RIGHT arm hidden behind her body. Bean sits at the LEFT of the sock and rolls round it in a smooth curve, shown only as a faint dotted path on the stone (NOT motion lines, no light, no face), its small round grille facing the way it rolls. One face (An's). The paving and the green shade above are the quiet area for the bubble.

Bean doesn't get stuck. Not even a little.豆豆才不会卡住呢。一点都不会。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT turned to the viewer's RIGHT, holds up her near RIGHT hand with the fingers spread and counts them off, her far arm hidden behind her body. An on the stone stool at the RIGHT, turned to the viewer's LEFT, copies her with her near LEFT hand up, the fingers clearly apart. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the caption.

And that summer I asked an assistant to write Grandpa's birthday toast. Exactly seventy characters.那年夏天，我还让助手给外公写生日祝酒词，要正好七十个字。

(as ch01 9.4) Summer 2026, a memory painted in the bright colours of Chapter 1, not the 2050 afternoon. Xiaoyu's phone (sky-blue case at the edges): the screen fills with one neat tall block of soft grey lines, no readable words or characters. The phone edges and dark room around it are quiet.

Long life, wisdom, love. It would fit any grandpa.长寿、智慧、慈爱，套在哪个外公身上都行。

敬爱的外公：福如东海长流水，寿比南山不老松。七十年风雨兼程，您用智慧和慈爱照亮全家。祝您身体健康，万事如意，笑口常开！（共70字）敬爱的外公：福如东海长流水，寿比南山不老松。七十年风雨兼程，您用智慧和慈爱照亮全家。祝您身体健康，万事如意，笑口常开！（共70字）

(as ch01 9.5) Summer 2026, a memory painted in the bright colours of Chapter 1, not the 2050 afternoon. Night (the same time as the panel before): the window dark, only a small desk lamp and the phone's glow lighting the room, Xiaoyu in her night clothes as in Chapter 1. Xiaoyu holds her phone in one hand, screen facing her and its glow on her face, and counts on the fingers of her other hand, the fingers clearly apart: frowning, suspicious, a dawning

It says 70 characters. I count 51.它说七十个字。我一数，才五十一。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. An counts on the fingers of her LEFT hand with her RIGHT forefinger, the fingers clearly apart, outraged and laughing at the same time, her mouth open. One face. The green shade and sky above are the quiet area for the bubble.

Fifty-one isn't seventy!五十一才不是七十呢！

The assistant does not read the way we do. It sees pieces, each with a number.助手读字跟我们不一样。它看到的是一小块一小块，每块都有个编号。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Back in 2050 for good. An sits on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT with Bean on her lap, its small round grille facing LEFT (no light, no glow, no face), and turned three-quarters to the viewer's LEFT, knocks gently on Bean's top beside the dark lens dot with one knuckle of her near LEFT hand, her far arm holding Bean, curious. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool, small, at the LEFT edge, listening. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubble.

Does Bean have a brain?豆豆有脑子吗？

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu, plain and warm, turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards An off panel, in her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

No. Bean has lots of tiny number-switches that learned patterns.没有。豆豆里头是好多好多小小的数字开关，学会了一些规律。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An, thinking hard, her brow knitted and her head a little on one side. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

Who taught the number-switches?谁教它们的？

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT answers, her RIGHT hand open on the stone. An on the stone stool at the RIGHT listens with Bean on her lap, its grille facing LEFT (no light, no face). Two faces in the lower middle band. The pale sky and green leaves above are the quiet band for the box.

NOT A BRAIN. Artificial neurons, first described in 1943, were only loosely based on brain cells. A brain grows, feels and sleeps inside a living body. AI is closer to lots of tiny number-switches that learned patterns.不是大脑。人工神经元1943年就提出了，只是大致参照了脑细胞。大脑会长大，有感觉，要睡觉，长在活的身体里。人工智能更像好多小小的数字开关，学会了一些规律。

People did. With lots and lots of examples.人教的。给它们看了好多好多例子。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. An bounces on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, holding Bean up in both hands in front of her, its small round grille facing LEFT towards Xiaoyu off panel (no light, no glow, no face). She is laughing, the gap in her teeth showing. One face. The green leaves and sky above are the quiet area for the bubble.

Like last year, when I showed Bean lots of leaves to teach it!就跟去年一样，我拿了好多叶子，教豆豆认！

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Side-on across the carved board: An at the RIGHT on Uncle Wu's stool asks, her head tilted; Xiaoyu at the LEFT on Grandpa's stool answers with a small knowing smile. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

Can Bean be wrong?豆豆会说错吗？

Yes, and Bean can still sound sure. Like the assistant that said seventy characters.会。说错了，口气还特别肯定，就像那个说七十个字的助手。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An squinting, her head forward, a hard question coming. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

What can't Bean do?那豆豆有什么做不到的？

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu, gentle and plain, turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards An off panel. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

Bean cannot love you back. People and pets can.豆豆没法像你爱它那样爱你。人会，小猫小狗也会。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. An hugs Bean anyway, her cheek resting on its top beside the dark lens dot, both arms round it, with a small shrug, Bean's small round grille facing RIGHT away from her (no light, no glow, no face). She is smiling. One face. The pale sky and green leaves above are the quiet band for the box.

I know. Bean is a Bean!我知道。豆豆就是豆豆！

A FRIEND? AI companions can be built to feel like friends. But the friendship goes one way, and a company designed it. In 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission and UNICEF both named AI companions for children as a concern.是朋友吗？人工智能伙伴可以做得像朋友一样。可这份友情是单向的，背后还有公司在设计。2025年，美国联邦贸易委员会和联合国儿童基金会都对儿童使用人工智能伙伴表示了担忧。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, ginkgo shade. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT adds the last thing, her RIGHT hand flat on the stone; An at the RIGHT nods, Bean on her lap with its small round grille facing LEFT (no light, no face). Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubble.

And people check Bean, and fix it when it is wrong.还有，人会检查豆豆，它错了，人就来修。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, about four o'clock, hot and bright. An sits on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT and sets Bean down on the stone table in front of her with both hands resting on it, very polite, Bean's small round grille facing her (no light, no glow, no face). Her face is serious and courteous. One face. The green ginkgo leaves and pale sky above are the quiet area for the bubble.

Bean, tell me about Auntie Xiaoyu's grandpa.豆豆，给我讲讲小雨阿姨的外公。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Bean alone on the grey stone in the middle of the panel, its small round grille of tiny dots facing RIGHT towards An off panel (no light, no glow, no face, a dark lens dot on top). The tall glass of pale green tea stands soft and out of focus at the LEFT edge. No people. Bean's voice comes from its grille, and the bubble's tail points to the grille. The green ginkgo shade above is the quiet area.

I don't know about Auntie Xiaoyu's grandpa. Nobody showed me.小雨阿姨外公的事，我不知道。没人给我看过。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An turned to the viewer's LEFT, pointing with her near LEFT forefinger at the notebook off panel, her eyes bright and stubborn. One face in the middle of the panel; the green shade behind is the quiet area.

I want to meet him.我想见见他。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT slides the closed dark red notebook back into her overshirt's RIGHT chest pocket with her RIGHT hand, her eyes down. An at the RIGHT, turned to the viewer's LEFT, holds out her near LEFT hand, empty, across the board. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubble.

The notebook is very old, and it is all in Chinese.这本子很旧了，里面写的全是中文。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. An sits on Uncle Wu's stool with her arms crossed over her red summer dress and her chin up, hurt more than cross, her lips pressed together. One face. The big quiet green shade above is the quiet area for the bubble.

You keep your grandpa all to yourself.你外公你一个人霸着，谁也不给。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky, about four o'clock. An leans across the carved board from Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, eager, her idea shining, both hands on Bean on the stone in front of her, its small round grille facing her (no light, no glow, no face). Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT is very still, in her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt. Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

I want to meet him.我想见见他。

Bean, pretend to be Auntie Xiaoyu's grandpa.豆豆，你装成小雨阿姨的外公吧。

I can say words in a grandpa voice. But they would only be my guesses.我可以用老爷爷的声音说话。可说的话，都是我猜的。

Same afternoon, under the pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Haoran at the next table, gone still, his chest squared to us and only his head turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards Xiaoyu's table, so the ear we see is his bare RIGHT ear (the white earbud is in his LEFT ear, hidden on the far side). His LEFT hand (thin gold ring on its ring finger) lies flat over the breast pocket on the LEFT of his white shirt (the side of his chest to the viewer's RIGHT), the cream envelope's edge showing above his fingers. Square black glasses, his eyes on Xiaoyu off panel. One face in the middle of the panel; the green plane-tree shade behind is the quiet area. Wordless.

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT sits with both hands in her lap, gentle and plain, looking at An; An on the stone stool at the RIGHT listens, Bean small on the stone in front of her with its grille facing her (no light, no face). Two faces in the lower middle band; the green shade above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

Bean cannot be my grandpa. Nobody can be him again.豆豆变不成我外公。谁也变不成他了。

I am sorry, An. I wish I could bring him to you.对不起，安。我真想让你见见他。

Same afternoon, hot and bright under a pale hazy cloudless late-summer sky. An has jumped off her stool and runs LEFT to the next stone table, throwing herself into Mira's arms; Mira, in her sleeveless sage-green linen dress, turns three-quarters to the viewer's RIGHT to catch her, so her small clear earbud shows in her RIGHT ear; her near RIGHT arm is round An's back. An's face is crumpled, near tears. Two faces. Haoran is a soft shape beyond them, not drawn clearly. The pale sky and green shade above are the quiet area for the bubble.

Then I can never meet him!那我永远也见不到他了！

About five in the afternoon, the heat breaking, the lake turning gold under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu stands alone at the stone rail by the water in her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt, turned to the viewer's RIGHT, small, so we see her RIGHT ear, the phone held against it with her near RIGHT hand (we see only the back of the phone in its pale blue case, no screen), her other arm hanging on the far side, out of sight. The arched stone bridge beyond. One face, small. The big quiet lake and sky are the quiet area for the caption.

At five, my mother called from Edinburgh, as she does every year on Grandpa's birthday.五点，妈妈从爱丁堡打来电话。每年外公生日，她都打。

Same time, gold light under a clear cloudless sky. Close on Xiaoyu at the rail turned to the viewer's RIGHT, so we see her RIGHT ear, her eyes wet, the back of her pale blue phone held against her RIGHT ear (no screen seen), her moss-green overshirt collar. One face in the middle of the panel; the gold lake behind is the quiet area.

‹Mama, Haoran's daughter An wants to meet Grandpa. I have nothing to give her.›妈，浩然的女儿安想见外公。可我什么也给不了她。

Same time, gold light under a clear cloudless sky. Close on the gold water at the foot of the stone rail, one green fan-shaped ginkgo leaf floating on it, the ripples soft. No people. The voice comes from the phone off panel at the LEFT edge, and the bubble's tail points to the LEFT edge.

‹Your grandpa never kept anything for himself. He taught chess to the whole park, and cards to you.›你外公啊，从来不藏私。下棋教了一公园的人，打牌教了你。

Same time, gold light turning rose under a clear cloudless sky. Xiaoyu has turned from the rail to face us, her body squared to the viewer, the back of the phone still at her RIGHT ear (on the viewer's LEFT), her LEFT hand reaching across her body to rest on the red notebook's corner in her overshirt's RIGHT chest pocket (also on the viewer's LEFT, shown clearly), her eyes down. Far behind her at the end of the path, small, the stone tables under the ginkgos. One face. The big quiet lake and sky above are the quiet area for the bubble.

‹He gave everything away. And I kept him in my pocket.›他什么都送出去了。我倒好，把他揣在兜里。

About ten past five, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Back at Grandpa's table: Xiaoyu sits on her stool at the LEFT in her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt, turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards Haoran, her hands in her lap. Haoran sits on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, turned to the viewer's LEFT towards her, so we see his LEFT ear with the one white wired earbud in it; with his near LEFT hand he lays the plain cream envelope on the carved board, his far RIGHT arm hidden behind his body. Two faces in the lower middle band. The pale gold sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

The night Grandpa died, I wrote down every word he said to me.外公走的那天晚上，跟我说的每句话，我都记下来了。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Haoran turned to the viewer's LEFT towards Xiaoyu off panel, so we see his LEFT ear with the one white wired earbud in it, his cowlick, his eyes wet behind his square black glasses. One face in the middle of the panel; the gold sky behind is the quiet area.

Grandpa thought I was you. What he said to me was meant for you.外公把我当成你了。那些话，其实是说给你听的。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu, very still, turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards Haoran off panel, her lips parted. One face in the middle of the panel; the gold sky behind is the quiet area.

You kept his words all this time?你一直留到现在？

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Haoran sits on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT of the picture, his head turned to the viewer's LEFT towards the next table, so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud. At the next table at the LEFT, small, Mira sits in her sage-green dress with An quiet against her side, Bean in An's arms (its grille facing away from us, no light, no face); Mira is turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards Haoran, her chin lifted in a small nod, her small clear earbud in her RIGHT ear. Three faces, two small. The gold sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

I never knew when to give you the letter. Mira said it should be today.我一直不知道该什么时候把信给你。米拉说，就今天吧。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. The plain cream paper envelope, sealed, a little soft at the corners from being carried, lies on the carved board beside the tall glass of pale green tea. NOTHING is written on it and it has no stamp. Xiaoyu's two hands lie flat on the stone either side of it, not touching it (her black watch on her LEFT wrist, her moss-green sleeves rolled to the elbows). No faces. The quiet stone around is the quiet area for the caption.

Grandpa's last words. The ones I was not there to hear.外公最后的话。那天，我不在他身边。

About twenty past five, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu sits on Grandpa's stool and holds the small notebook open in both hands, upright at her chest, its pages facing her so that we see only the back of its dark red cover; the cream envelope lies under her LEFT thumb against the cover's edge; her black watch on her LEFT wrist. Haoran is out of frame. One face. The gold sky and the lake band above are the quiet area for the caption.

I opened the notebook at Grandpa's last page.我把本子翻到外公写的最后一页。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close from directly above on the last written page of the notebook lying flat on the grey stone, cream paper, the hand bigger and slower, painted BLANK and lettered in afterwards; a white slip at its edge. No hands, no faces. The stone around is quiet.

"Xiaoyu. Granddaughter. Twenty-three. Learning in Zurich. Very clever. She'll come back. No hurry."

二〇三九年二月二十日　小雨。外孙女。二十三岁。在苏黎世学本事。很聪明。她还回来。不急。二〇三九年二月二十日　小雨。外孙女。二十三岁。在苏黎世学本事。很聪明。她还回来。不急。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu's LEFT hand holding the notebook open on the stone while her RIGHT hand slips the sealed cream envelope between the last written page and the empty pages after it; the page itself is not readable, only its edge shows. Her black watch on her LEFT wrist. No face. The stone around is the quiet area for the bubble.

I will not open the letter today. Grandpa wrote, "No hurry."这封信，今天先不拆。外公写了，不急。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu, tears on her cheeks and the start of a smile, letting a long breath go, her eyes soft. One face in the middle of the panel; the gold sky behind is the quiet area for the caption.

I had always thought Grandpa blamed me for coming home too late. He wrote, "No hurry."我一直以为，外公会怪我回来晚了。可他写的是，不急。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu sits on Grandpa's stool at the RIGHT of the picture, in front, turned to the viewer's LEFT, the closed notebook held against her chest in both hands, looking towards the next table. There at the LEFT, small, An sits sulking on Mira's knee with Bean in her arms (its grille facing away from us, no light, no face); Mira is turned to the viewer's RIGHT, her small clear earbud in her RIGHT ear. Three faces, two small. The gold sky above is the quiet area. Wordless.

About half past five, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu is crouched in front at the RIGHT of the picture, turned to the viewer's LEFT, so we see her LEFT ear, her black watch on her LEFT wrist, her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt, her eyes level with An's. At the next stone table at the LEFT An sits on Mira's knee, her face stubborn and wet-eyed, turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards Xiaoyu; Mira, in her sage-green linen dress, is turned to the viewer's RIGHT too, her small clear earbud in her RIGHT ear. Bean is not in the picture. Three faces, two of them small. The gold sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

I can't bring my grandpa back for you. But I can teach you his game.我没法把外公变出来。可他的牌，我能教给你。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards Xiaoyu off panel, her wet eyes lifting, a small hope starting at the corner of her mouth, her yellow bunches a little crooked. One face in the middle of the panel; the gold sky behind is the quiet area.

Can we play right now?现在就能玩吗？

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on the grey stone table: Xiaoyu's RIGHT hand draws a deck of red-backed cards out of the faded blue cotton chess bag, which lies on its side with its pale cord undone; the plain red backs face us, a small black pen lies in the bag's mouth beside them. Her LEFT hand steadies the bag, the black watch on that wrist. No faces. The stone around is the quiet area.

About twenty to six, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Back at Grandpa's table. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT deals red-backed cards onto the stone with her RIGHT hand, sly and warm, looking at An. An on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, chin on both fists, a small gold-lit frown, watching the cards land. The faded blue chess bag lies at Xiaoyu's feet. Two faces in the lower middle band; the pale gold sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

A game from my grandpa's village. You've never seen it. Let's see how fast you learn.这是我外公村里的玩法，你肯定没见过。看看你几局能学会。

Same time, low gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. An sits up very straight on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, turned to the viewer's LEFT, her small near LEFT forefinger up like a teacher, bossy and serious; Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT, her cards held low against her chest in her near RIGHT hand with the faces towards herself, shakes her head slowly with a smile. Two faces in the lower middle band; the pale gold sky above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

Tell me the rules first.你先把规则讲一下。

No rules. You lose till you learn.不讲。输着输着就会了。

About a quarter to six, the light turning rose. Side-on across the stone table under the green ginkgo trees: Xiaoyu at the LEFT and An at the RIGHT, both heads bent over their cards, a small trick of red-backed cards between them on the carved board. Both are small in the picture, their faces quiet and busy. The big clear, cloudless gold-and-rose late-summer sky above is the quiet area for the caption.

I did not explain a single rule.规则，我一条也没讲。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An holding her cards in a crooked fan in both small hands, the plain red backs towards us, her face above them lost, her eyes wide and her mouth a little open. One face in the middle of the panel; the rose sky behind is the quiet area.

Round one. An was lost.第一局，安一头雾水。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An laying one red-backed card on the stone with her RIGHT hand, her eyes narrowing and the start of a sly smile, her LEFT hand holding her few remaining cards low. One face in the middle of the panel; the rose sky behind is the quiet area.

Round two. She started to see the rules.第二局，她慢慢摸出了门道。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An with both arms thrown up and her hands empty, her last card lying flat on the stone in front of her, a huge triumphant grin, the gap in her teeth showing. One face in the middle of the panel; the rose sky behind is the quiet area.

Round three. An won.第三局，安赢了。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT laughs, her head tipped back a little, her RIGHT hand open on the stone; An on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT stares at her, frozen, her arms just coming down. Two faces in the lower middle band; the rose sky above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

‹Three rounds to learn it!›三局就学会啦！

What did you just say?你刚才说什么？

(as ch01 6.4) Summer 2026, a memory painted in the bright colours of Chapter 1, not the 2050 afternoon. Evening, the kitchen window dark, warm light from the lamp above. Round three. Xiaoyu's last card lies flat on the table where she slapped it down; both her arms are thrown up, empty-handed, her face triumphant, a huge grin. Grandpa laughs out loud and claps, delighted. The lamp above, the wall behind them quiet.

‹Three rounds to learn it!›三局就学会啦！

About ten to six, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu turned to the viewer's RIGHT towards An off panel, tears running and a wobbling smile, her eyes full. One face in the middle of the panel; the rose sky behind is the quiet area.

Grandpa said the same to me at eleven.我十一岁那年，外公也是这么跟我说的。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An turned to the viewer's LEFT towards Xiaoyu off panel, wide-eyed, working it out, her mouth a little open and a small wonder on her face. One face in the middle of the panel; the rose sky behind is the quiet area.

Then I just met him. A little bit.那我刚才见到他了。见到一点点。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT has taken the small dark red notebook from her overshirt's RIGHT chest pocket and holds it out across the carved board in both hands, closed, its cover up, her black watch on her LEFT wrist. An on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT leans in with both small hands cupped open under it. The notebook is the clearest thing between them. Two faces in the lower middle band; the rose sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

Here is Grandpa's notebook. Hold it with both hands.给，外公的本子。两只手拿好。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. An sits on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, holding the small notebook open in both hands at her chest, its pages facing her so that we see only the back of its dark red cover; she is frowning and delighted, her head tilted. Xiaoyu is a soft shape at the LEFT edge, not drawn clearly. One face. The rose sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

It's all squiggles!全是弯弯曲曲的道道！

About five to six, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. An on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT holds the open notebook out across the board in both hands, its pages facing Xiaoyu, her face serious and bright. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT takes a small black pen from the mouth of the faded blue chess bag on the stone with her RIGHT hand. Two faces in the lower middle band; the rose sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

Write me in the notebook, the way Grandpa wrote you.把我也写进去，就像外公写你那样。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close from directly above on the notebook lying open flat on the grey stone, the first empty page after Grandpa's last written one, cream paper, the page painted BLANK and lettered in afterwards; Xiaoyu's RIGHT hand, the black watch above it on her LEFT wrist, holds the small black pen just finishing a short line of careful writing at the top. The edge of the sealed cream envelope shows between the pages on the left. No faces. The stone around is the quiet area.

"An. Seven. Learned cards in three rounds. Very clever."

二〇五〇年八月三十一日　安。七岁。三局学会了打牌。很聪明。二〇五〇年八月三十一日　安。七岁。三局学会了打牌。很聪明。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Xiaoyu looking down at the page she has just written, tears on her cheeks and a soft smile. One face in the middle of the panel; the rose sky behind is the quiet area for the caption.

The first page after Grandpa's.紧挨着外公的那一页。

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An delighted and proud, her RIGHT forefinger pointing at her own chest, the gap in her teeth showing. One face in the middle of the panel; the rose sky behind is the quiet area.

Very clever. That's me!“很聪明”，说的就是我！

Same time, rose light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. An has climbed half up onto the stone and leans across the carved board from the RIGHT, pushing the closed dark red notebook down into Xiaoyu's overshirt's RIGHT chest pocket with both small hands. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT sits still and looks down at An's hands, moved. Two faces in the lower middle band; the rose sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

Keep it safe.收好。

Six o'clock, the light rose-gold, long shadows, a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Teo, in his grey-blue short-sleeved linen shirt and khaki trousers, walks towards us down the lakeside path under the green plane trees carrying a round tray of four steaming bowls of long-life noodles in both hands, the small clear earbud in his RIGHT ear. The path, the lake and the sky are quiet and gold. One face, small. The big sky is the quiet area for the caption.

At six, Teo brought long-life noodles for Grandpa's birthday.六点，特奥端来了长寿面，给外公过生日。

Same time, rose-gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on Teo, turned to the viewer's RIGHT, bending to set one bowl of noodles with chopsticks laid across it down on the stone beside the tall glass of pale green tea at the board's LEFT corner; the small clear earbud in his RIGHT ear. His face is warm and a little shy. One face in the middle of the panel; the gold stone behind is the quiet area.

One bowl for Grandpa too.这碗给外公。

Same time, rose-gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. Close on An slurping one very long noodle into her mouth from child's chopsticks held in her RIGHT hand, her cheeks full, her eyes shut in bliss, the steam rising. One face in the middle of the panel; the gold light behind is the quiet area. Wordless.

Same time, rose-gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. An sits on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, her chopsticks down, looking LEFT at Xiaoyu with great seriousness. Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT, a bowl of noodles held in both hands, looks back at An, her eyes bright. Two faces in the lower middle band; the rose-gold sky above is the quiet area for the bubble.

When you're old and you forget our game, I'll teach you again. Three rounds.等你老了，把咱们这个牌忘了，我再教你。三局就会。

Same time, rose-gold light under a clear cloudless late-summer sky. The noodle bowls are pushed to the table's edge. An on Uncle Wu's stool at the RIGHT, turned to the viewer's LEFT, is setting a pale wooden chess piece onto the carved board with her near LEFT hand, eager; Xiaoyu on Grandpa's stool at the LEFT, turned to the viewer's RIGHT, laughs and shakes her head, her near RIGHT hand raised in a small stop sign. Two faces in the lower middle band; the rose-gold sky above is the quiet area for the bubbles.

Now the chess game!现在下棋！

Chess takes more than three rounds.下棋啊，三局可学不会。

Sunset, about half past six, a clear cloudless late-summer sky turning gold and rose, the lake glowing gold and rose behind them, the arched stone bridge at centre left in the distance. Xiaoyu and An PLAY CHESS AGAINST EACH OTHER, sitting OPPOSITE each other across one square stone table under a ginkgo tree in full green leaf, seen from the side: Xiaoyu on the LEFT in the place Grandpa sat, her body and face turned fully to the RIGHT towards An, in her moss-green overshirt over a white t-shirt; An on the RIGHT, her body and face turned fully to the LEFT towards Xiaoyu, in her red cotton dress. Seated, An's chin is just above the table's edge. On the stone between them is Grandpa's worn wooden Western 8 by 8 chessboard (a loose wooden board set on the stone table, as in the Chapter 1 cover, not the carved stone board) set square between them, each player's own pieces nearest them: the cream (white) pieces on Xiaoyu's half, the dark brown (black) pieces on An's half, mid-game with a few pieces moved forward, every piece standing ON a square, NOT Chinese chess. Xiaoyu, mid-move, holds one cream knight between two fingers of her near RIGHT hand by its base just above the board, her far LEFT arm hidden behind her body, and looks at An, NOT at us, with a sly, warm half smile. An leans forward over her side of the board with her chin on both fists, eyes on the board, concentrating hard, brow knitted. Xiaoyu has taken the small worn dark red notebook out of her pocket and laid it closed, cover up, on the stone by the tall clear glass of pale green tea at Xiaoyu's end of the board, with the edge of a cream envelope just showing between its pages. Bean sits small on the paving at the far RIGHT edge, its grille facing away from us (no light, no glow, no face). No other people; the other stone tables are empty. The top third is calm sky and ginkgo leaves for the caption.

When you forget, I'll remember.你忘了，我记得。

The End全书完

The ideas, a little slower

The cards, the tea and the old pictures are on the pages. Here are the ideas in words.

On page 2 a box says that the name "artificial intelligence" is 95 years old. On 31 August 1955 John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester and Claude Shannon wrote a proposal for a two-month summer study at Dartmouth College. It holds the first use of the phrase "artificial intelligence", and it already listed "neuron nets" as a topic, so learning networks were there at the birth. Grandpa's birthday a year later is the story's own.

On page 7 the assistant that wrote the toast could not count its own characters. Chat models do not read letters the way we do. They receive token IDs, each one standing for a chunk of text, and that is why they have been oddly bad at tasks like counting the letters in a word. GPT-2, for example, used a vocabulary of 50,257 tokens. This is one reason, not the whole reason. How a model counts Chinese characters is not something this book tries to say.

On page 8 An asks whether Bean has a brain. Artificial neurons were first described by McCulloch and Pitts in 1943 and were only loosely inspired by brain cells. A brain grows, feels, sleeps and belongs to a living body. For a child, "lots of tiny number-switches that learned patterns" is a truer picture.

On pages 8 and 9 Xiaoyu gives An four plain things to hold on to. A machine like Bean learns from examples that people give it. This is one of the big ideas in the AI4K12 list, and children as young as four can grasp it, especially when they do the teaching themselves, as in PopBots. Bean can be wrong and still sound sure. The researchers who wrote "Why language models hallucinate" point out that most tests give a point for a right answer and nothing for "I don't know", so a model tuned for those tests learns to guess. Bean cannot love An back, while people and pets can. And people check Bean and fix it when it is wrong. Two more belong to families, not to the pages. For anything important or personal, ask a grown-up, since children's trust in a device and in a person changes with age and with the kind of question, and younger children need help deciding whom to ask for what. And keep secrets safe, since children in one study understood little about data privacy.

On pages 2, 8 and 9 Xiaoyu answers only what An asks, in a few words, and lets An laugh. "Does Bean have a brain?" gets a short answer, and so does "What can't Bean do?". This is careful practice drawn from how people talk with young children about hard things. It is not a method proven by studies of AI. Follow the child's lead, say true things plainly, and stop when she has had enough.

On page 9 the box asks whether a machine can be a friend. AI companions can be designed to feel like friends. For young children this is risky. The relationship goes one way, and a company designed the system. The US Federal Trade Commission opened an inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions on 11 September 2025, and UNICEF's 2025 guidance singles out AI companions used by children as a concern. The research says nothing about machines that speak as someone who has died, so the book makes no claim about them.

One honest sentence for families. The helper is a clever tool that learned from lots of examples people showed it.

What is true here

What makes a good picture book about AI

A good picture book about AI shows a helper that learns from examples a child can see, makes mistakes that people check, is made by people and is never alive.

Hard and easy

On pages 5 and 6 the laptop beats Uncle Wu at chess, and a robot vacuum is stopped by a sock. This is Moravec's paradox from Chapter 1. What grown-ups find hard, like chess, is easy for machines, and what a toddler does without thinking, like pouring tea or crossing a room with socks on it, is very hard (Moravec 1988).

SourcesMcCarthy, Minsky, Rochester and Shannon (1955/2006), A proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, August 31, 1955.McCulloch and Pitts (1943), A logical calculus of the ideas immanent in nervous activity.Sennrich, Haddow and Birch (2016), Neural machine translation of rare words with subword units.Radford, Wu, Child, Luan, Amodei and Sutskever (2019), Language models are unsupervised multitask learners.Kalai, Nachum, Vempala and Zhang (2025), Why language models hallucinate.Touretzky, Gardner-McCune, Martin and Seehorn (2019), Envisioning AI for K-12. What should every child know about AI?Williams, Park, Oh and Breazeal (2019), PopBots. Designing an artificial intelligence curriculum for early childhood education.Girouard-Hallam and Danovitch (2022), Children's trust in and learning from voice assistants.Andries and Robertson (2023), "Alexa doesn't have that many feelings". Children's understanding of AI through interactions with smart speakers in their homes.Federal Trade Commission (2025, 11 September), FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions.UNICEF (2025), Guidance on AI and Children.Pointed back to: Moravec (1988), Mind Children (met in Chapter 1).

What is pretend

Bridge City and everyone in it are made up, and so is the whole world of 2050 with its garden towers and solar boats. Bean and everything Bean says are made up, and so is Bean rolling round a sock. Grandpa, his notebook, the letter, his village card game, the long-life noodles and the birthday are made up too. No real product is described. The assistant that could not count, the vacuum and the sock, and the arguments about what counts as clever belong to the world as it is now. Every fact in the boxes is real.

The end of the story

Everything in the 2026 chapters is our world as it is now. Everything after it is imagined, a hopeful guess. Thank you for coming along.

Who made this

Yingying Fu created this manga. She chose the story and its people, directed every page, and edited every word and picture. The words were drafted with Claude, an AI by Anthropic. The pictures are made with AI image generation, painted panel by panel from her direction and checked and corrected by hand.

再慢慢讲一遍

牌、茶和那些旧画面，都在书页里了。这里用文字，把背后的道理讲一讲。

第二页的方框说，“人工智能”这个名字今年95岁了。1955年8月31日，约翰·麦卡锡、马文·明斯基、纳撒尼尔·罗切斯特和克劳德·香农写了一份计划书，提议夏天在达特茅斯学院开展为期两个月的研究。“人工智能”这个词，第一次出现就是在这份计划书里。计划书还把“神经网络”列为研究题目，可见会学习的网络从一开始就在。外公晚一年同一天出生，是故事的安排。

第七页，写祝酒词的助手，连自己写了几个字都数不清。聊天模型读文字，跟我们不一样。它收到的是词元的编号，每个编号代表一小段文字，所以数一个单词里有几个字母这类事，它们一向做得出奇地差。比如GPT-2的词表有50,257个词元。这只是一个原因，不是全部。至于模型怎样数汉字，这本书不作推测。

第八页，安问豆豆有没有脑子。人工神经元由麦卡洛克和皮茨在1943年首先提出，只是大致参照了脑细胞。大脑会生长，有感觉，要睡觉，长在活的身体里。对孩子来说，“好多好多小小的数字开关，学会了一些规律”，这个说法更贴近事实。

第八、九页，小雨给安讲了四件实在的事。豆豆这样的机器，是从人给的例子里学的。这是AI4K12提出的核心概念之一，四岁的孩子就能懂，自己动手教的时候尤其容易懂，PopBots课程就是这么做的。豆豆会出错，出错时口气照样很肯定。《语言模型为什么会产生幻觉》的作者指出，多数测试答对得分，答“我不知道”不得分，为这些测试调出来的模型，自然就学会了猜。豆豆没法像安爱它那样爱安，人和小动物会。人还会检查豆豆，出了错就修。另外两条留给家长，书页里没有讲。重要的事、私人的事，要问大人。孩子信不信机器、信不信人，会随年龄和问题的类型而变，年纪小的孩子需要大人帮着判断什么事该问谁。还有，秘密要守好，有一项研究发现，孩子对数据隐私了解很少。

第二、八、九页，安问什么，小雨就答什么，三言两语，还让安笑。“豆豆有脑子吗？”答得很短，“豆豆有什么做不到的？”也一样。这种做法来自大人跟幼儿谈难题的经验，是一种谨慎的做法，并没有人工智能方面的研究证明它有效。跟着孩子的问题走，真话平平实实地说，孩子听够了就停。

第九页的方框问，机器能不能当朋友。人工智能伙伴可以做得像朋友一样。对年幼的孩子来说，这有风险，因为这份关系是单向的，系统又是公司设计的。2025年9月11日，美国联邦贸易委员会对充当伙伴的人工智能聊天机器人展开调查。联合国儿童基金会2025年的指南，也专门把儿童使用人工智能伙伴列为需要关注的问题。用已故者的口吻说话的机器，现有研究没有涉及，所以这本书对它们不下判断。

最后，给家长一句实在话。这个帮手是一件聪明的工具，是从人给它看的大量例子里学出来的。

哪些是真的

一本好的人工智能绘本

好的人工智能绘本，会让孩子看见帮手怎样从例子里学习，出了错有人检查，也讲明帮手是人做的，从来不是活的。

难的和容易的

第五、六页，笔记本电脑下棋赢了吴伯伯，扫地机器人却被一只袜子卡住。这就是第一章讲过的莫拉维克悖论。大人觉得难的事，比如下棋，机器做起来反倒容易。小娃娃不假思索就会的事，比如倒茶，比如穿过一间扔着袜子的屋子，机器却很难做到（莫拉维克，1988年）。

出处McCarthy, Minsky, Rochester and Shannon (1955/2006), A proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, August 31, 1955.McCulloch and Pitts (1943), A logical calculus of the ideas immanent in nervous activity.Sennrich, Haddow and Birch (2016), Neural machine translation of rare words with subword units.Radford, Wu, Child, Luan, Amodei and Sutskever (2019), Language models are unsupervised multitask learners.Kalai, Nachum, Vempala and Zhang (2025), Why language models hallucinate.Touretzky, Gardner-McCune, Martin and Seehorn (2019), Envisioning AI for K-12. What should every child know about AI?Williams, Park, Oh and Breazeal (2019), PopBots. Designing an artificial intelligence curriculum for early childhood education.Girouard-Hallam and Danovitch (2022), Children's trust in and learning from voice assistants.Andries and Robertson (2023), "Alexa doesn't have that many feelings". Children's understanding of AI through interactions with smart speakers in their homes.Federal Trade Commission (2025, 11 September), FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions.UNICEF (2025), Guidance on AI and Children.回顾：Moravec (1988), Mind Children（见第一章）。

哪些是虚构的

桥城和城里的人都是编的，2050年的整个世界也是，包括长满花园的高楼和太阳能小船。豆豆和它说的每一句话是编的，豆豆绕着袜子滚过去也是。外公、他的本子、那封信、他村里的牌、长寿面和那个生日，也都是编的。书里没有写任何真实的产品。数不清字数的助手、扫地机器人和袜子，还有关于什么才算聪明的争论，都是今天这个世界里的事。方框里讲的事实，都是真的。

故事讲完了

2026年那几章，写的就是我们今天的世界。后面的一切都是想象，是一个满怀希望的猜想。谢谢你一路同行。

谁做了这本漫画

这本漫画由 Yingying Fu 创作。故事和人物由她决定，每一页由她导演，每一句话、每一幅画由她修改。文字是和 Anthropic 的人工智能 Claude 一起起草的。画面由人工智能生成，按她的要求一格一格地画，再逐张检查、修正。