The Homestead system is the sandbox housing and management feature added to Where Winds Meet in the Version 1.8 update, Companions Make Home, which went live on June 25, 2026 (UTC). It sends you back to Qinghe as the Young Master to restore Blissful Retreat, the ruined village where the protagonist grew up, and turn it into a working estate with shops, crops, and recruited workers.
Quick answer: Unlock Homestead by completing the Qinghe Exploration Quests Where Bamboos Remember and Childhood Reverie. Finishing them opens the Homestead management menu and teaches the core actions of planting crops, fishing, and cooking.
How to unlock the Homestead system in Where Winds Meet
Homestead is gated behind two Exploration Quests in Qinghe. They act as the introduction to the feature, so you cannot manage the estate until both are done.
You know the unlock worked when the Homestead menu opens, and you can plot land, plant crops, fish, and cook. If you cannot place or upgrade buildings yet, you most likely have not finished Building: One Last Job, which is what enables structure placement and renovation.
Blissful Retreat and Beyond Mundane explained
Homestead is split into two connected but separate spaces. Blissful Retreat is the management side, where you rebuild the village from ruins into a thriving estate, run businesses, and raise its prosperity. Beyond Mundane is a standalone private zone, cut off from the open world, where you freely build and decorate your own residence without a fixed house layout.
The split matters because the two areas reward different play. Blissful Retreat is about restoration, production, and worker assignment. Beyond Mundane is about creative building, where you can shape a quiet retreat, a lively street, a waterside courtyard, or a large custom home. Both share their designs with other players as part of the sandbox housing feature.
Homestead businesses and what they produce
Rebuilding Blissful Retreat means restoring its industries and chaining their output together. Crops feed the inn, the kiln feeds the brewery, and finished goods can be traded for profit. Production runs in real time, so some items finish in a few minutes while others, such as cooked dishes, take hours.
| Activity | What it does |
|---|---|
| Farming | Plot land and plant crops, harvested to cook dishes served in the inn. This is the first activity available after unlocking. |
| Inn | Cater dishes and wine to customers; earns Bounty Gourd from running it. |
| Porcelain Kiln | Produces vases and dishware, used for brewing or traded for profit. |
| Aromas Brewery | Brews different wines, which can be catered in the inn or traded. |
| Local Specialties | Resources such as fish, meat, stones, and timber stored in the Warehouse, used to develop items and dishes. |
| Trading | Exchange produced goods to support village growth. |
| Build Infrastructures | Construct and renovate structures across Blissful Retreat, including the inn. |
Recruiting Retainers with Present Invitations
Retainers are the workforce that keeps the estate running. You can recruit local villagers and certain animals to handle the labor of processing items and gathering materials in roles such as Innkeeping, Klinwork, and Brewcraft. To bring one on board, open the Retainers menu, choose an NPC, and give them their preferred Present Invitation.
Different Retainers suit different jobs, so read each one’s talents before assigning them and match those talents to the most relevant facility. Keeping eligible Retainers assigned matters because an unstaffed business represents lost production while you are away.
Earning Bounty Gourd and the Summer’s Blush outfit
Homestead activities reward Bounty Gourd, the system’s dedicated currency. Running the inn and taking part in village restoration generate it, and you spend it in the Homestead Shop on items for developing Retainers and Consumables, as well as Facilities and Furniture.
The standout free reward is the Summer’s Blush outfit, redeemed through the Homestead Shop. For the fastest early progress, clear the introductory quests and restoration tasks first, since tutorial objectives unlock the businesses, Retainer functions, and reward menus before any single activity is worth repeating.
If raising Homestead prosperity feels stuck
A common sticking point is being asked to increase Homestead prosperity or raise your Homestead level without an obvious way to place buildings. The fix is the building system itself. Until you finish the Building: One Last Job side quest, you cannot place or renovate structures, which is what most prosperity and level objectives require. Complete that quest, then renovate the inn and build out the core industries to push prosperity forward.
Beyond Artistry sharing arrives in July
A second housing feature, Beyond Artistry, is scheduled to follow in July 2026. It expands the social side of Homestead by letting you design personalized residences, showcase finished builds, share creations, and browse community designs. It is separate from the June 25 launch, and no exact July release date has been confirmed yet. If you plan an elaborate home, gather materials and get comfortable with the building tools now so you are ready when sharing goes live.
