The Brilliant Science Student of the Late Ming

This story is entirely fictional, and it gets more and more unhinged. If that makes you uncomfortable, please don’t force yourself to read it, and don’t compare it with the real history of the late Ming dynasty. The late Ming chaos + unorthodox heroes + mad Taoist philosophy + absurdist violence = a rebellious outlaw nuclear blast. This book has no particular genre, only the wild spirit and madness of outlaws. Dedicated to all readers who want to curse but worry they aren’t wild enough. The main characters, Lu Zhiyuan and his wife Fang Qingyan, are shipwrecked and return to the sixth month of the third year of the Tianqi reign. They arrive at a place called Apricot Tree Village. From there, they head to Apricot Tree Mountain and form the “Shattered Balls Army.” With Gu Weixuan, Big Brain, and the Hair-Plucking Duck as their three-man team, they uphold the righteous path through madness and sweep across the world. Three attached poems: “Poem of Plucking Feathers Until Bald”, Hair-Plucking Duck One piece, two pieces, three or four, Five, six, seven, eight, and more. A thousand, ten thousand, countless in flight, Pluck till the green hills vanish from sight! “Elegy for the Feathers”, Hair-Plucking Duck Feathers fly, feathers fall, they fill the sky, Bare as a baby, who will hear me cry? If heaven had no feathers, heaven would grow old, Feathers fall, people die, and neither knows! “Continuation of the Feather-Plucking Poem”, Big Brain Nine, ten, eleven pieces in flight, Each one lands in the spicy-snail field just right. The snails eat them up, new feathers grow, Pluck the hills bare and sell them for wine, ho! “Song of the Mad Taoist’s Snow Battle”, Gu Weixuan Where duck feathers fly, blood-red flashes sway, Spicy snails burst, and yellow snow drifts away. Don’t say the mad have no wondrous way, A cloud marks the summit where light holds sway.