The Worry-Free Teahouse

At the Wuyou Teahouse on the banks of the Qutan River in Wuyou City, Zhaoguo, rumors of demons keep surfacing. People say that after nightfall, the teahouse echoes with sobbing and whispered conversations. As a result, business is dismal, and the teahouse can't make ends meet.

Five hundred years ago, Gao He somehow ended up making a bet with the demon-hunting sorcerer Qiu Guan. Since then, he has had to help Qiu Guan run the Wuyou Teahouse and suppress the demons in its storeroom. People and demons alike come and go, each carrying a painful past. The demons in the storeroom were once wild and unruly, but after enduring the joys and sorrows of life, they eventually became confined to one small corner, their long lives reduced to a single page on paper. With a judge's brush tucked at his waist, Gao He moves among the tangled grudges and grievances of the teahouse's customers and demons. As he helps them find redemption, he also brings an end to a feud that has entangled him for centuries.

This work was published by Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House in 2022.