The Fragrance Love Letters side activity in Where Winds Meet scatters twelve romance-themed stories around Kaifeng. Fading Blossoms is one of the earliest cards you can unlock, but it hides behind a locked door and a thief’s key in Bustling Abode, which makes it easy to miss.
This walkthrough focuses on how to trigger and complete the actions tied to Fading Blossoms so the card appears in your Book of Flowers.
Where Fading Blossoms Fits in the Love Letter Collection
Fading Blossoms is part of the broader Fragrance Love Letters set, a collection of twelve cards that document intertwined stories around Kaifeng’s entertainment quarter. The full list includes:
Reverie of blossoms
Fading Blossoms
Sweet Pear Stories
Pear Blossom
Jasmine Harp
Willow Blossom Ink
Celestial Peony
An Orchid in a lonely Valley
Longevity’s Ascent
Winter bloom Tapestry
Rippling Nymph
First Bloom Anticipation
Each card is tied to a small investigation or encounter. Fading Blossoms is specifically linked to events in Bustling Abode, one of the “Twelve Floral Scenes” around Kaifeng.
Fading Blossoms is part of the broader Fragrance Love Letters set | Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
Prerequisites and Location for Fading Blossoms
Fading Blossoms is treated as the second card in the Fragrance Love Letters line, but it does not require you to fully complete the first card before unlocking it. You do, however, need access to Kaifeng’s entertainment district and the Bustling Abode area.
In broad terms, you need to:
Reach Bustling Abode on the north side of Kaifeng City.
Locate a Tumi Flowers resident there (the trainer/hostess associated with hair-tying and flirting scenes).
Obtain her key via the game’s theft mechanic.
Use that key on a locked interior in Bustling Abode and investigate clues inside.
Once that small investigation is complete, the Fading Blossoms card is added to your collection.
Open the world map while you are in Kaifeng City and look toward the north side of the city layout. Bustling Abode sits in the same cluster as other “Twelve Floral Scenes” locations, such as Springwave and Silver Flower Shop, but specifically marks the residence area with swings and pavilions.
Use the nearest unlocked landmark or teleport point in Kaifeng that places you close to the entertainment quarter, then ride or sprint to the Bustling Abode icon. The zone is recognizable by performers, flower girls, and residents clustered around small courtyards.
Head to the Bustling Abode in the entertainment quarter | Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
Tip: If you have already been following flower-related quests like Reverie of blossoms, you will likely have at least one landmark near Pearlglow Lake or the surrounding floral scenes, which shortens the run to Bustling Abode.
How to Start the Fading Blossoms Quest in Bustling Abode
Inside Bustling Abode, the Fading Blossoms content is tied to a specific resident and a locked room. The game treats this as a small “secret tale” related to Hua Zhiqing, but you do not unlock the card by speaking to her under the tree; it comes from the hidden investigation behind a locked door.
Find the Tumi Flowers resident in Bustling Abode. She is presented as a trainer or hostess and is involved in flirtation and hair-tying scenes in other floral stories. In this case, you are not talking to her for dialogue; you are targeting her for theft.
Use the theft mechanic (such as pickpocketing with “Celestial Seize” / “Celestial Cease”) on this woman to steal the Tumi key from her. Approach from behind to minimize detection and trigger the theft prompt.
Use a theft technique to steal the Tumi Key from the woman | Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
Note: If you fail the theft, you may need to back off, wait for hostility to drop, and try again.
Using the Tumi Key and Entering the Locked Room
Once you have stolen the key, the critical path runs through a short stretch of Bustling Abode and into a previously locked interior.
After obtaining the Tumi key, move to the right-hand side of Bustling Abode from where the woman stands. You will pass by two characters sitting on a swing on your right side as you walk deeper into the residence.
Move to the right-hand side of Bustling Abode from where the woman stands | Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
Continue forward past the swing until you reach a doorway that leads into a building. Enter this first doorway to access an interior corridor or small room.
Inside, head further in until you encounter a second door that was previously locked. Use the Tumi key you stole to unlock this door. The key is consumed as part of the interaction, granting access to a private room tied to Hua Zhiqing’s secret story.
Use the key to unlock the second door | Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
Finding the Three Clues for Fading Blossoms
The Fading Blossoms objective inside the room is framed as a short investigation. You must interact with three separate clues scattered around the space. The game does not always highlight every clue clearly, and the final one can be easy to miss.
Once inside the unlocked room, walk around and use the Investigate prompt on obvious interactable objects. The first two clues are in plain sight on furniture or items near the center and one side of the room, and they are hard to miss if you sweep your camera slowly.
Investigate the clues in the room | Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
For the third clue, rotate the camera toward the left side of the room, focusing on the area by the curtain rather than the bed. The clue prompt is tucked into the curtain area and can be very faint from some angles, so move closer and adjust the camera until the interaction appears.
Interact with all three clues. After the final investigation prompt, the game resolves the mini-quest linked to Hua Zhiqing’s room. You should see your progress update and the Fading Blossoms fragrance love letter card unlock.
Tip: If you are not seeing prompts, toggle your focus/scan key and slowly trace the edges of walls, curtains, and furniture. The third clue in particular sits almost flush with the curtain and is easy to overlook.
Interacting with the final clue will update your progress for the quest | Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
How to Confirm the Fading Blossoms Card Unlocked
Once the room investigation completes, the game adds the Fading Blossoms entry to your floral collection, but it does not always shout about it. You can verify progress directly.
Alternatively, while in Kaifeng City, open the map and select the fan icon on the lower part of the right-hand menu. This opens the Twelve Floral Scenes interface, where you can browse love letter cards and see which ones have been filled.
Fading Blossoms should now appear as completed or unlocked. If it does not, double-check that you interacted with all three clues in the locked room; leaving one unchecked can prevent the card from registering.
How Fading Blossoms Connects to Other Floral Stories
Fading Blossoms sits alongside other Bustling Abode and Kaifeng stories such as Reverie of blossoms and the Peach Blossoms/pear-themed letters. Several of these involve the same network of performers, flower sellers, and residents who move between:
Revelry Hall (upper floors with flower ladies)
Silver Flower Shop and nearby pavilions
Bustling Abode and lakeside stages
Reverie of blossoms, for example, can send you “under the Jade Tree in Bustling Abode” looking for Hua Jieyu, while Fading Blossoms reveals Hua Zhiqing’s secret tale through a locked chamber nearby. Together, these letters sketch overlapping romances and missed encounters across the same handful of locations, which is why many players tackle several floral letters in one sweep of the district.
Note: Some other floral characters, such as Du Gantang, have been reported as bugged or time-locked in certain patches. Fading Blossoms, by contrast, is purely tied to theft, navigation, and three investigation prompts in Bustling Abode, so it tends to be more reliable once you know where the hidden room is.
Image credit: NetEase (via YouTube/@StingKnight)
Once Fading Blossoms is in your Book of Flowers, the rest of the Fragrance Love Letters become easier to track, since you can cross-reference the map fan icon and the floral scenes list. Treat Bustling Abode as a hub: between the Jade Tree, the swings, and the secret room unlocked with the Tumi key, several of the most elusive cards revolve around this single corner of Kaifeng.
