The inn is the money-maker of the Homestead system in Where Winds Meet, introduced with the Version 1.8 “Companions Make Home” update. It sits at the end of a small production chain in Blissful Retreat, where crops you grow become dishes, vases you fire become wine, and waiters serve both to customers for currency. Get the chain feeding itself, and the inn runs on its own while you are away.
Quick answer: The inn earns Bounty Gourd when waiters serve food and wine to customers. Keep it stocked by farming crops for dishes, firing vases in the Porcelain Kiln to brew wine in the Aromas Brewery, and assigning Retainers to each station so production never stalls.
What you need to unlock the inn
Homestead opens in Qinghe, where you return as the Young Master to rebuild Blissful Retreat. The system becomes available after you finish the introductory exploration quests in that region, which walk you through planting crops, fishing, and cooking before any of the businesses come online. The expanded building tools that let you renovate the inn itself are tied to a separate exploration quest about reconstruction.
Before you can hire the staff who actually cook and serve, you need somewhere for them to sleep. Place beds on your plot first, because the game blocks new Retainer recruitment until housing exists. After that, set aside a workspace for the kitchen and tavern stations so everything stays close together.
The inn production chain in Blissful Retreat
The inn does not produce anything by itself. It sells what the other stations make. Three supporting industries feed it, and a warehouse of gathered materials supplies all of them.
| Station | What it makes | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Farming | Crops harvested from your plots | Cooked into dishes for the inn |
| Porcelain Kiln | Vases and dishware | Used to brew wine, or traded for profit |
| Aromas Brewery | Wine | Catered to customers, or traded for profit |
| Inn (tavern) | Serves dishes and wine | Earns Bounty Gourd from customers |
| Warehouse | Stores local specialties such as fish, meat, stone, and timber | Supplies ingredients and materials to every station |
The vases from the kiln are worth a note. They are not just decoration. The brewery needs wine jugs to hold its product, so pottery sits one step behind every drink you serve. If wine output dries up, check whether the kiln has stopped making jugs.
Setting up the chain for the first time
Assign Retainers to run the inn
Retainers are the workforce of the Homestead. You recruit local villagers, and certain animals, then put their talents to work in roles such as Innkeeping, Klinwork (pottery), and Brewcraft. Every station that produces or serves something needs staff assigned to it.
To recruit someone, open the Retainers menu, press the “+”, choose the NPC you want, and follow the prompt. Some require only a conversation, while others ask for their preferred Present Invitation before they agree to join you.
To raise a worker’s level and unlock their skills, you need books. These are redeemed weekly in the Homestead Shop and also handed out as rewards for weekly quests and Homestead activities. Higher-level workers improve the output of the station they staff.
Tip: An empty station is lost income. Before you log off, confirm that a Retainer is assigned to gathering, cooking, pottery, brewing, and serving so the whole chain keeps moving.
Real-time cooking and brewing timers
Production runs on real-world time. Some items finish in a few minutes, while others, including certain dishes, take hours to cook. This applies across every Homestead industry, so plan longer jobs around when you will be offline and queue quick items when you are actively playing. The chain continues processing while you are away, which is what makes the inn a passive earner once it is set up.
Bounty Gourd and the Homestead Shop
Serving food and wine at the inn is the steady way to bring in Bounty Gourd, the main Homestead currency. You spend it in the Homestead Shop on furniture, seeds, buildings, and the books used to develop Retainers, along with consumables and facilities. Selling surplus dishes and wine you do not need for cargo turns extra stock into more currency.
The shop is also where the confirmed free reward, the Summer’s Blush outfit, can be redeemed. Beyond the inn, you earn currency from weekly cargo tasks, the achievement system, and selling excess materials to a trader.
Currencies you need to build and stock the inn
Four currencies cover construction and supply. Keeping a healthy balance of each prevents your build-out from stalling halfway.
| Currency | What it buys | Main ways to earn |
|---|---|---|
| Bounty Gourd (melons) | Furniture, seeds, buildings, worker books, shop items | Selling food and wine at the inn, weekly cargo, achievements, selling extras to a trader |
| Logs | Structural building units | Sending workers to gather, or chopping bamboo yourself |
| Green drops | Unique items | Growing vegetables in garden beds |
| Wheat | Homestead materials | Weekly cargo, weekly quests, achievements |
Raise the Homestead to level 10
The Homestead system caps at level 10, and pushing toward it is how you expand the inn and unlock more furniture in the shop. Three things move the level forward at once.
- Increase the level of your production stations, such as the kiln and the kitchen.
- Raise prosperity by constructing buildings and placing furniture on your plot.
- Collect enough Bounty Gourd to meet each level’s requirement.
You will know the inn is fully working when waiters are stocked, customers are being served, and Bounty Gourd starts accumulating without further input from you. From there, reinvest the currency into higher station levels and more decoration, and the inn grows into the centerpiece of a self-sustaining Blissful Retreat.
