Cambridge University's dashing professor Cheng Yuanbiao was sailing when his boat went down. When he opened his eyes, he found himself face-first in a manure bucket at a Tang dynasty mine! He had become a penniless scholar sentenced to servitude for “looking one time too many” at the Minister of Works' concubine. Iron shackles on his feet, he shoveled manure as whips tore his skin to ribbons.
At the end of his rope, he poured saltpeter powder into a bucket of sour water, freezing the mine overnight! The foreman fell to his knees, crying, “Spare us, Mountain God!” Cheng seized his chance, smashed his brittle shackles, and escaped over the foreman's shattered teeth.
With a steamed bun secretly slipped to him by Lin Xiuer, the fiery cook, he made his way to Chang'an. Chemical formulas were a treasure chest: turn saltpeter into ice, and lychees could fetch a fortune! The laws of physics became his armor: use a lever to flip an assassin, and pulleys to thrash his enemies! His sketches captivated the aloof noblewoman Wang Wan'er (his enemy's niece?), while his mechanical plans caught the attention of Zhang Xuan, the icy director of the academy (a warning about clipped fingernails?). He outwitted the treacherous Minister Wang Xian (the concubine's owner), dealt with the venomous official Su Meier (a smile hiding a blade), and tamed the fierce Turkic princess Tuoba Yue (who went from trying to kill him to chasing after him).
From the side of a cart of night soil to the imperial throne room, formulas foil conspiracies, and charm commands the world. See how a chemistry professor uses knowledge to win beauties and science to claim an empire, writing the wildest comeback tale of the High Tang: knowledge is power, and charm is a strength too!
