The Liaozhai Teahouse: Building a Career in Qilu

Su Qingyuan is laid off and returns to Ming Shui Ancient Town in Jinan, where she inherits her great-grandfather's dilapidated teahouse. After a kite strikes her forehead and her blood drips onto The Ledger of Demons, she awakens the Eye of Truth. The teahouse is the focal point of a formation sealing an ancient ferocious beast, and she is the new Keeper of the Ledger.

A teahouse owner determined to make money, Qin Yan, a Mount Lao Daoist who can't manage everyday life, and Lao Huang, a boastful weasel spirit, form the most unreliable "three-person formation-guarding team" in the land of Qilu.

They use the bamboo ribs of Weifang kites to repair a thousand-year-old bamboo flute, conceal clues in Yangjiabu New Year paintings to decipher fragments of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, use Zibo glassblowing to mend the story of Nie Xiaoqian, and stitch severed threads of fate with Lu embroidery techniques. Meanwhile, the traffic-hungry capital "Evil" is tearing apart the seal on Qilu's cultural heritage with tasteless livestreams and metaverse ceremonies of enthronement on Mount Tai.

When Mount Tai splits open and Qiongqi emerges, Su Qingyuan opens the last page of the ledger at the Jade Emperor Peak: "The Keeper of the Ledger may gather all spirits by offering herself as a guide." She sacrifices four of her senses to bring Qin Yan back to life.

He takes her hand and writes in her palm: "You didn't lose. You're the most incredible person I've ever met."

A year later, the teahouse reopens. Before the small portrait of Pu Songling, that cup of tea is forever steaming.

A cup of clear tea to ferry away an obsession, half a volume of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio to guard Qilu.