Hua Jieyu shows up in multiple activities around Kaifeng’s Velvet Shade, and the game’s clues are vague enough that it is easy to burn hours circling the same courtyards. The key is that she only appears under the “jade tree in Bustling Abode” after you trigger a specific conversation chain; if you skip those NPCs, the spot under the tree will be empty no matter how long you search.
Where Hua Jieyu appears in Shadows in Bloom
In the Kaifeng Jianghu Legacy “Shadows in Bloom”, Hua Jieyu is one of the seven clue-givers at the Heroic Assembly in Revelry Hall. Her role here is straightforward:
| Quest | Location | Hua Jieyu’s role | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadows in Bloom (Jianghu Legacy Vol. II) | Revelry Hall, Kaifeng | First-floor guest by the entrance | Talk to Hua Jieyu on the left side of the main entrance to start a Pitch Pot contest and earn one of the seven clues needed to progress the investigation. |
During Shadows in Bloom, she does not move between locations, and you do not need to “find” her elsewhere in the city. If you only care about completing that Jianghu Legacy, speak to her by the entrance, win the Pitch Pot game, and then move on to the other clue-givers listed in the in‑game log.
Hua Jieyu in the Velvet Shade love-letter chain
Hua Jieyu is also part of Velvet Shade’s romance-focused content, where you complete love letters tied to the Twelve Floral Scenes. This is the context where players are usually told she is “under the jade tree in Bustling Abode” and then cannot find her.
She only spawns there once you’ve followed a specific chain of NPCs around Velvet Shade and Kaifeng. Skipping any earlier step will leave Bustling Abode empty.
How to unlock Hua Jieyu’s Bustling Abode location
To get Hua Jieyu to appear under the jade tree in Bustling Abode, you first need to be sent after her by the Velvet Shade staff. The sequence is the same pattern players describe for the Wandering Tale “Reverie of Blossoms” and for the broader “Velvet Shade: Amidst Flowers” chain.
| Step | Place | Who to talk to | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Revelry Hall, 3rd floor | Velvet Shade Disciple / flower lady outside a side room | Ask about Hua Jieyu. She says Hua is at the Silver Flower Shop and sends you there, kicking off the “wild goose chase”. |
| 2 | Silver Flower Shop area in Velvet Shade | The fireworks vendor players associate with the Silver Flower Shop | Ask where Hua Jieyu went. You’re told she has already moved on to Springwave Pavilion, the bathhouse. |
| 3 | Springwave Pavilion | Pavilion NPC behind the front desk (often referred to as the Springwave receptionist) | The receptionist explains Hua is no longer there and directs you to Bustling Abode, giving you wine or referencing a gift you’re meant to take to her. |
| 4 | Bustling Abode (Pearlglow Lake area) | Hua Jieyu herself, once spawned | Hua finally appears under the jade tree, letting you finish the love-letter card or Wandering Tale. |
Exact location of Hua Jieyu under the jade tree
Once the chain is active, you can go to Bustling Abode and find Hua Jieyu in a very specific corner of the lakeside complex. The game’s hint calls this “under the jade tree in Bustling Abode,” but that still leaves a lot of ground to cover.
| Reference | Direction | What you should see |
|---|---|---|
| Pearlglow Lake landmark | Teleport here first | This landmark sits just outside the Velvet Shade lakeside attractions, including Bustling Abode. |
| From Pearlglow Lake | Head left (west) toward the lake | Walk into the area where a group of dancers perform on a circular platform built over the water. |
| Circular dance platform | Look to the lower-left edge of this scene | Past the main crowd and platform, in the bottom‑left corner of the lakeside clearing, lies a tree surrounded by dense flowers. |
| Jade tree | Beneath the branches, partly hidden | Hua Jieyu is lying on the ground in the flowers, almost camouflaged. You need to walk right up to her to see the interaction prompt. |
She is easy to overlook because of the tall blossoms and her reclined pose. If you are standing by the dancers and cannot spot her, sweep your camera low across the flowerbeds in the lower-left of the area until the interaction icon appears.
Why some players never see Hua Jieyu in Bustling Abode
Most confusion around Hua Jieyu’s jade tree clue comes from two issues:
- Arriving at Bustling Abode before triggering the NPC chain in Velvet Shade.
- Standing in the right location, but not noticing Hua’s model among the flowers.
Hua’s appearance under the tree is treated as the endpoint of a short, linear micro‑quest. Until the Revelry Hall disciple has told you she is at the Silver Flower Shop, and the shop and bathhouse staff have each forwarded you along, the game does not place her in Bustling Abode at all. That is why some players see an empty tree even with the right clue text in their log.
On top of that, her pose is almost horizontal, and the flower density around the tree is high. From a distance, it is easy to assume the area is empty when she is actually there. Walking into the flowers and rotating the camera usually reveals her.
How Hua Jieyu connects to other Velvet Shade NPCs
While searching for Hua Jieyu, players commonly cross paths with other love-letter NPCs in the same district, some of whom are currently buggy or have incomplete implementations. Lu Yanling, for example, sits on a nearby roof overlooking the dancers, and Du Gantang is referenced on signposts but does not reliably appear at his intended pavilion.
Hua Jieyu herself is not bugged in the same way; her absence under the tree almost always comes down to quest order rather than a technical issue. Treat her search more like following a breadcrumb trail than like hunting for a static collectible. Once you accept that the Velvet Shade staff are deliberately sending you on a “she was just here, she went that way” tour, the structure makes more sense.
The same design is visible in Shadows in Bloom inside Revelry Hall. There, Hua is one of several women of Velvet Shade who gate progress behind social mini‑games: Pitch Pot for Hua, poetry for Jia Wenqu, dancing for Wen Zixuan, and so on. The Bustling Abode version simply pushes that formula out into the city, using errands between shopfronts and pavilions instead of a single building’s floors.
Once you have spoken to the Revelry Hall disciple, confirmed Hua’s supposed stops at the Silver Flower Shop and Springwave, and then checked the lower-left corner of the Bustling Abode lakeside area, you should finally see her resting beneath the blossoms. From there, wrap up the dialogue to complete the card or Wandering Tale you are chasing and move on to the next elusive Velvet Shade name on your list.
