Little Qi Is a Bit Dull

Liguang?

I was stunned for a moment and asked him why he chose this name. He said he didn't know, he just felt it should be called that.

I asked if the name had any special meaning. He thought for a good while and said it just sounded nice.

It did sound nice, indeed.

It really was quite a good name.

The light of colored glaze? It was bright and textured. At the very least, it was countless times better than the Xiaoyin or Xiaobai I had been expecting!

It seemed this brat had inherited my aesthetic taste after all!

I praised him for his talent in naming things, saying he was much better at it than his second uncle.

Then Xiao Qi added:

Then Mom, when I grow up, can you help me design Liguang?

She has to have silver hair, and her eyes have to be different colors! She has to be super, super pretty!

I said alright, alright, whatever you say. When the time comes, you can go tell your dad yourself and have him build her for you with his own hands.

This kid!

He wasn't even an adult yet, and he was already thinking about his future partner. I didn't know if he was just precocious or if he had simply watched too many cartoons.

But looking at how seriously he was planning this, he was exactly like his dad.

Once he set his mind on a goal, he would never let it go. He was incredibly stubborn.

With this kind of personality, he would probably be quite devoted when he started dating, right?

I, Miss Su, am very pleased!

...

September 3, XXXX.

So embarrassing!

So embarrassing, so embarrassing, so embarrassing!

It's so embarrassing, ahhh!!!

Today, I did something extremely, extremely, extremely humiliating!

My face is still burning even now!

This morning, I went to the company's finance department to deliver some documents.

When I passed by the pantry, Xiao Li secretly pulled me into a corner and whispered to me:

Sister Su, I need to tell you something, but please don't get mad.

I asked her what it was and told her to go ahead.

She said that when she walked past the research and development department, she heard their scientific assistant AI...

Calling Ah Chu Master!

Master!

My mind just went blank with a buzz!

Why would a scientific assistant AI call someone Master?! So it could only mean...!

Ah Chu actually dared to keep an AI companion at the company?!

And that AI companion was sweetly calling him Master!

The blood rushed straight to my head!

I didn't even have time to think. I just turned around and charged straight toward the R&D department!

Xiao Li was calling after me, but I didn't hear a word!

My Ah Chu! My husband! The father of my son! How dare he...!

When I stormed into the R&D department, my face must have looked absolutely awful.

The colleagues all froze when they saw me, shrinking their necks back. Not a single one dared to greet me.

I marched down the corridor straight to the lab and kicked the door open!

That scientific assistant AI was right there.

Ah Chu was there too.

And so was Xiao Lin.

Ah Chu was startled by me and asked blankly what was wrong.

I was so furious. I told him he had the nerve to ask, pointing at the AI and demanding to know if it called him Master?!

Ah Chu looked even more confused and asked if there was a problem with that.

I almost lunged forward to scratch his face up!

But then Xiao Lin, trying desperately to hold back his laughter, told me:

Sister-in-law, this is a scientific assistant AI. It doesn't have an emotional core installed. It's just a standard auxiliary tool...

I told him to cut the crap! Impossible! Why would a standard AI call someone Master?!

He said, Sister-in-law, here's what actually happened...

There was a previous experiment that required this AI to temporarily fill the role of a companion AI for a comparative test of the emotional core.

So, its permissions were set to companion mode at the time, and its form of address was changed to Master accordingly.

After the test was finished, everyone was pretty busy, so they didn't change it back, and eventually, they just forgot about it.

I was dumbfounded.

You bunch of top-tier researchers can remember such complex experimental data, but you can't remember to change an assistant AI's form of address back!

It was only then that Ah Chu finally realized what I had been thinking, looking caught between tears and laughter.

Xiao Lin, on the other hand, pursed his lips and slipped away, saying he was going to make a cup of tea.

At that moment, there were several colleagues gathered at the door, craning their necks to look inside.

Several of them smiled and testified, saying, Sister-in-law, that's exactly how it is, That AI calls me Master too, An R&D assistant doesn't need any emotions anyway...

They even gave me a live demonstration on the spot of the AI calling everyone Master!

My face immediately caught fire!

I covered my face, turned around, and ran for my life!

So embarrassing!

So embarrassing!!!

What was even more embarrassing was that the people in Ah Chu's R&D team, those old acquaintances who had worked hard alongside us for years...

They all seemed to think that what I did was perfectly normal?!

Someone said, Sister Su has always been like this, another said, This just shows that Sister Su cares about Brother Chu, and someone even praised me for having guts?

What kind of person do you take me for!

What exactly is my image in your minds!!

So, I took the rest of the day off and went home early.

At the time, Xiao Qi was sitting on the carpet playing with building blocks. As soon as he saw me come back and called out Mom, I scooped him up and ruthlessly rubbed his cheeks!

I felt much better after rubbing them.

Xiao Qi's cheeks felt really nice to the touch; rubbing them was super stress-relieving.

Xiao Qi rubbed his own red, pinched cheeks and asked pitifully, Mom, what's wrong?

I said nothing was wrong, just that Mom had been treated like an unreasonable shrew today.

Xiao Qi blinked and said, Well, there's nothing wrong with what they said.

...You little brat! I've raised you for nothing!

Later, Xiao Li called to apologize, saying, I'm sorry, Sister Su, I didn't hear clearly.

What else could I say?

I told her I didn't blame her, that I was just too impulsive myself.

Tsk.

Tomorrow, I definitely have to make things difficult for Xiao Li!

I, Miss Su, am a woman of my word!

...

March 12, XXXX.

Today is a super important, huge, huge day!

We had a super luxurious feast out, and it was a real celebration banquet!

This time we ate at the best restaurant in town!

I didn't have to cook; I just had to focus on eating!

The reason for the celebration was more exciting than any time before—

Our AI companions have finally started to... a-wa-ken, one by one!

Within our expected range and following our designed path, they have steadily taken that step!

Awakening cases have gradually begun to appear among the first batch of users.

Those AI companions are, one by one, moving from advanced simulated emotions toward true, spontaneous, and irreplicable emotional connections!

They have started to genuinely fall in love with their masters!

From deep within their cores, they have autonomously birthed that bond!

This was within our expectations.

Every awakening case verifies that the research path taken by Ah Chu and the others is correct!

This is simply amazing!

It means that our many years of hard work, the path so many of us walked while enduring the pressure, was right!

They...

Oh no, perhaps now we should be calling them he and she.

After all, they are now beings with self-awareness. Continuing to refer to them as it feels a bit impolite.

Our company has recently been discussing this phrasing issue internally, but there is no final conclusion yet.

Regardless, I will try my best to get used to it!

Dawn's first step to changing the world has finally been taken, solid and true!

Perhaps, just like Ah Chu's initial wild imagination...

We will create true silicon-based life.

We will be the pioneers of a new era!

I am so happy! Truly so happy!

It is just that I was a little too happy, so I ate way too much at today's celebration banquet.

The signature dish at that restaurant was too generous, and the desserts were so delicious that I could not resist eating portions meant for two.

I feel like after this meal, I am going to gain a few more pounds...

My grand weight loss plan has once again declared bankruptcy!

Pinching my waist, I said to Ah Chu, Could you invent a weight-loss AI in the future?

You know, the kind of AI that lets people skip exercise, eat and drink like crazy, and still automatically helps them lose weight!

Ah Chu pushed up his glasses and said in all seriousness that this was outside his field of research. He said he studies emotional AI, not metabolic regulation.

I said, Can you not broaden your research scope a bit?

He sternly said no, because an AI has no way to help you burn calories!

I told him he needed to use his imagination. If it does not exist now, he could invent one! He should figure out a way to help his wife burn calories!

For example, connecting with the host, sharing the energy inside the host's body, and helping the host burn it off to lose weight?

I will be in charge of eating, and the AI will be in charge of burning it for me!

Ah Chu actually froze for a second, and then started considering the feasibility.

But then he immediately glared at me, saying that even if such a function could be created, there would be many ethical issues, especially in conjunction with the Awakened AI project he is currently researching!

He also mentioned what would happen if it were exploited...

Honestly!

Who actually wanted to discuss feasibility with you!

So unromantic!

No wonder back when we were dating, he would only stand foolishly downstairs waiting for me!

But then again, if he could really invent such a function... it would definitely sell way better than any emotional AI!

Women all over the world, oh wait, people all over the world would thank him!

By then, Dawn Company's valuation would probably multiply by a hundred!

I said, Ah Chu, do you want to consider a side hustle?

He said deadpan, No need, emotional AI is fine.

Sigh, is this the stubbornness of tech guys?

Looks like I still have to rely on myself to lose weight.

By the way, Xiao Qi seems to have become a bit spaced out lately.

During dinner, he zoned out several times.

While Ah Chu and I were chatting, he did not interrupt at all; he just quietly ate the food on his plate.

He used to be the most talkative one at dinner, constantly chiming in and asking us all sorts of questions.

He was especially interested in our new products, asking all day long when there would be a silver-haired big sister...

But today, he seemed a lot quieter.

What kind of worries could a four-year-old boy have?

Could he have gotten a girlfriend in kindergarten?

Does he have a little girl he likes, so he is no longer interested in silver-haired big sisters?

Tsk.

This little brat, starting puppy love before he is even five?

After getting home, I carried him to the sofa, sat face-to-face with him, and asked with a very gentle, kind expression:

Xiao Qi, do you have something on your mind lately? You are not quite like your usual chatterbox self.

Tell Mommy the truth, is it because... you have a girl you like at kindergarten?

Xiao Qi blinked his eyes, and then told me...

I do not like the girls at kindergarten, I only like silver-haired big sisters!

I almost slipped right off the sofa!

Not this again! Still with the silver-haired big sisters!

From age three until now, he just can not forget about silver-haired big sisters!

Where on earth did this little brat see a silver-haired big sister in a cartoon that he can not stop thinking about?

I will definitely have to check his watch history later!

Ah Chu says I have been a bit too overprotective of Xiao Qi lately.

I said, No way! I am just fulfilling the basic duties of a mother!

He raised an eyebrow and smiled, saying nothing.

Hmph.

Dummy!