Halcyon Days At Taoyuan – Walkthrough Part 1

In Halcyon Days at Taoyuan, you accidentally end up in a village that is completely isolated from the rest of the world. With no way of returning to your former life, you decide to settle here and live your new life in a calm and cozy space. Here, you’ll have to grow your own crops and catch your own fish. Your neighbours are exceptionally caring and will help you out, but you’ll also have to do the same. For more information on the game, please visit its official Steam page here.

A New Beginning

As you start a new game, you’ll find yourself in the character creator. Once you’re through that, you’ll see a short cutscene about your past, and how you ended up in Taoyuan village.

You’ll then wake up inside a home, surrounded by the residents of the Taoyuan village who had been caring for you. The residents, Su Min and Shen Wuqiang, are talking about how you were able to survive in the cave without having any weapons.

Suddenly, an old man named Zhang Wenchang will arrive at the house. He’s the elder and will reveal to you that the village had been isolated for over a thousand years, and you’re the first outsider here.

Zhang also reveals that the path leading to the village has grown impassable, so there’s no way to enter or leave the village. However, he assures you that once you’ve gotten better, they’ll all be willing to brainstorm the ideas to get you back, if you so desire.

Su Min and Shen Wuqiang then welcome you to their village and ask you to stay. They’re all very willing to help you out as you start this new journey.

A Questionable Dream

As the guests leave and you finally find yourself having a restful sleep, a shadowy figure appears in the house. The figure says that you’re not the chosen one and should never have come here.

Shortly after, it will be revealed that it’s just a very threatening but cute cat called Tunjie. Tunjie will help you discard any useless items. You can access Tunjie by opening your inventory and dragging any items to the cat icon in the bottom-right corner of the inventory.

Morning Comes

You’ll then wake up the next morning. Head outside to find a pigeon sitting on a branch. It is your mailbox. You’ll find several items here, sent to you by the other residents of the Taoyuan village.

If you’re accessing it for the first time, you’ll find a box full of house decorations, as well as several other gifts from your neighbours.

Among the many letters, you’ll find one sent by Liu Chulan, asking you to come to her residence whenever you’re free. The letter also includes a set of clothes for you to wear.

You can wear these clothes by opening your inventory and using the item. The clothes also provide some stat bonuses.

Taoyuan Village

There’s a path leading to the left in your farmstead. If you take the path, you’ll arrive in the village. The first building here belongs to Long Xizhi. She’ll give you some noodles that she has prepared for you.

She’s also willing to teach you the recipe, but you must bring her the required ingredients: 10 units of wheat flour and 5 fish.

You can then go out to meet other villagers. If you go south from Long Xizhi’s building, the second building to your right with a green colored banner on the door belongs to the seed seller.

The building belongs to Jiang Zhengyang. He’s often outside, but when he’s inside the building, you can buy seeds from him.

The Seed Shop

As you enter Jiang Zhengyang’s building for the first time, it will trigger a cutscene. You’ll then get a tutorial for farming, and Jiang himself will guide you on what to do.

Jiang Zhengyang will also give you some free seeds, including 10 wheat seeds. You can then return to your farm to plant them.

There’s a tool rack on the left of the entrance where you’ll find several farming tools. You can also put new tools there after you acquire them.

Planting The Seeds

After returning to your farm, pull out a sickle from the tool rack and clean up the area. Use a hoe to till 10 units of the soil.

Make sure you also use the fertilizers on the soil before planting the wheat seeds. You can also till some more soil and plant the other types of seed that you have gotten as a gift.

Once you’ve planted the seeds, take the water bucket out of the tool rack and use it to water the plants. You can refill the bucket at the river flowing next to the farmstead.

It takes four days for wheat to fully grow. You’ll have to water it regularly. If you skip watering any plant for two days straight, it will wither.

You also have to keep an eye on the time. If it’s dusk, it’s best to go to sleep to fully restore your stamina and health.

Lui Chulan And Her Shop

I then head back into the village to talk to some more villagers. There’s a building next to the commission chest in the middle of the village, which belongs to Liu Chulan.

She assures you that she’ll make you more clothes once you’re able to gather more materials. Liu Chulan is also able to craft lanterns and bags. She’ll give you a crude lantern as a gift as well, and you can equip it in your inventory.

Fishing

If you head further south, you’ll end up at the beach. There’s a boat here. If you go here, it will give you a short cutscene where the shopkeeper, Yuanyi, will teach you how to fish and will give you a basic fishing rod alongside some bait.

You can then head to the raft beside the shop. The raft will take you to the middle of the sea, and here you can fish to your heart’s content. To fish, just click on the water or press the button to use the rod.

Once you see an exclamation mark above your character’s head, press the button again or click on the sea to pull the fish out of the water.

There’s a net on the raft. You can use that to enter a mini-game. This mini-game enables you to catch multiple random fish, but you can’t catch any legendary fish this way.

The mini-game shows eight directional nets. You have to press the corresponding direction where the fish appears, before it falls back into the water. If you fail or input the wrong direction, the mini game will be over.

For fishing, the bait helps the fish bite it more quickly, but you don’t explicitly need it to fish. You’ll be able to use the bait automatically, as long as it’s in your inventory.

Once you’ve caught 10 fish, return to Yuanyi. He’ll share some fishing tips and give you some more bait. Once you leave the shop, you’ll encounter Xiao Dalan. Xiao will ask if you find fishing difficult.

Regardless of your answer, he’ll advise you to buy a better fishing rod to make fishing easier. However, he also mentions that you’ll need bamboo from the bamboo grove to craft a better fishing rod.

Quest For Bamboo

You can find the Bamboo Grove towards the extreme west of the map. From the village, go up, and you’ll end up in the Ancestral Hall area, and from there, head left, and you’ll arrive at the bamboo grove.

Here, you’ll find Zhang Linghu playing a flute in secret. He’ll tell you that you need a better axe to cut the bamboo. Now, you’ll have to go to the building near the mine to get better tools.

You can find the mine to the south-west of the village. Here, you’ll find Sheng Wuqiang. He’d be willing to get you a better axe, but he has run out of ore. You’ll have to get 30 copper ore by yourself from the mine.

The Mine

If you don’t have a pickaxe in your inventory, Sheng will give you one for free. Head inside the mine, and here you’ll find Chu Youfeng. She’ll give you a sword and teach you how to tame beasts.

Once you’ve got the sword, the gate on the right inside the cave will open. Here, you’ll find copper deposits that are a little more shiny then regular stone deposits.

You can go deeper in the cave by opening the door using luminous jades that you can acquire by breaking stone deposits or defeating beasts.

Make sure you don’t stay here too late. If the clock hits 1:00 AM, you’ll pass out and will wake up the next day with half your HP and stamina. You can also acquire raw jade in the mine that can be opened for a little surprise by Sheng’s brother in the building near the mine.

Once you’ve acquired at least 30 copper ore, you can return to Sheng Wuqiang, and he’ll give you a copper axe. You can then take the copper axe to the bamboo grove and get 10 pieces of bamboo by cutting them.

Bring the bamboo back to the beach, and here, you’ll find that Xiao has already prepared a better fishing rod for you, and you’ll get to keep the bamboo. He also asks to see you in two days to show you how to do net fishing properly.

Contribution Vouchers

On day three, when you enter the village, you’ll find Zhang Wenchang standing in the middle near the community chest. He’ll tell you that you can get Contribution Vouchers by sharing your produce and items with the village by putting them inside the chest.

The Contribution Vouchers can be used as currency to purchase other useful items from the merchants. These items are unique and cannot be bought by regular bartering.

Adjusting The Furniture In Your House

You’ll also encounter Zhang Huilong outside of your house on the second day at the farm. He’ll tell you that you can come to his building to expand or renovate the house by purchasing furniture. He’ll also hand over some blueprints and a chest.

Now, you can easily place anything inside the house by accessing it from the inventory and using the items.

However, if you want to remove something, you’ll have to go to the tool rack and use an axe or a pickaxe on the furniture to add it back to your inventory.

There’s also a desk outside of your house that allows you to adjust the exterior of the house, but you won’t have any items to use it with as of now.

Harvesting Wheat And Buying More Seeds

After four days, your wheat should have fully grown. You can use a sickle to harvest the wheat. Keep in mind that for regular vegetables and fruits, you’ll have to use a basket to harvest.

Once you’ve got all the wheat, you’ll have to turn it into flour. Head to Jiang Zhengyang’s building. If you talk to him, he’ll tell you that you can use the millstone outside of his house.

You can put all the wheat into the millstone and then hold and spin the mouse clockwise. You’ll have to complete one rotation to turn one wheat into one flour. Once you’ve got all the flour, you can complete Long Xizhi’s quest.

If you want to buy more seeds, you’ll have to head back to Jiang Zhengyang inside his building and select the trade option.

You’ll enter the bartering mode. Pick anything that you want to purchase, but on the other end of the scale, you’ll have to put stuff from your own inventory.

Once the scale tips in your favor, you’ll be able to complete the transaction. It’s one more reason not throw all your produce into the community chest in the village. If you save some items, you can use them to barter with the merchants.

Completing Long Xizhi’s Quest

Return to Long Xizhi’s abode. Now, you’d have 5 fish and 10 wheat flour in your inventory. You can give these items to Long Xizhi, and she’ll give you the Fish Broth Noodles recipe.

In order to learn the recipe, you’ll have to use it. You’ll enter a mini-game here. In this mini-game, you’ll have to repeatedly click until the bar ends up in the middle of the grey box until it turns fully red.

You’ll have to keep in mind the candle on the right because you’ll have to complete the task before the candle runs out. For some recipes, you have to spin the ingredients in a direction to mix them up.

Once you’ve learned a recipe, you’ll be able to cook it at a stove. You won’t have a stove at home right now, but you can use the one in Long Xizhi’s house to cook food.

This concludes Part 1 of the walkthrough for Halcyon Days at Taoyuan. For more guides and walkthroughs, please visit the game’s main hub here.

Fahad Suleman

Fahad Suleman is an avid fan of fighting games who spends most of his time writing walkthroughs and reviews for cozy indie titles or mashing around in Tekken. If he’s not writing or playing any games, you’ll often find him watching historical videos on YouTube for hours.