The Legend of Lotus Spring

Temple of Flower Goddess

Temple door opens with a mouse click. Walk forward. Turn left or right to walk around the dragon screen in order to reach the door behind it.

Through this door, you reach the temple courtyard. You can see the main temple building and two side buildings.

Proceed straight ahead from the doorway, cross the courtyard, and enter the main temple building. Alternatively, you may circumnavigate the courtyard along a gallery that connects this courtyard from buildings.

Objects with interactivity in the temple are: matchbox, lamp, candle and incense, bell, drum, water pot, sprinkler and the twelve pots of flowers in front of each flower goddess.

Clicking on the matchbox will open the matchbox; clicking again will light the match. The matchbox will appear in inventory after clicking on it. With the match as cursor, you can light the table lamp, walk around to stand in front of the table, and light the candle and incense. After all candles and incense are lit, you will trigger an animation and learn part of the story between Lotus Spring and Xian Feng, in which Xian Feng give Lotus Spring two pearls as gifts.

The ladle and sprinkler are next to the drum stand. Clicking on the chicken-shaped bronze sprinkler will pick it up and then replace the China Doll cursor. You can walk left and then forward to get close to those flower pots and water them. You will notice the pot is empty of water. Click on the ladle beside the sprinkler; water is ladled into the sprinkler.

Water each of the twelve flowers, enjoy the animations, and learn some legendary stories. (Go to the book in inventory.)

After leaving the main temple building, go back to the courtyard and leave the temple courtyard through building on the left.

Pavilion of Lotus Scent

After leaving the temple courtyard, turn left and follow pathway. You will see a deer and butterfly. Follow them; pass through a small valley and see another pathway along the riverbank. Follow the turtle to reach the Pavilion of Lotus Scent.

This pavilion is a square building. There is a telescope through which you can see the animation of one of the four most famous legends in Chinese culture: Cowboy and Goddess. This legend brought the Chinese the Valentine's Day tradition.

There is a needle and thread on the stool and a spider box on the table. By picking up the needle and dropping it on the water bowl, you will activate the animation showing Lotus Spring and Xian Feng celebrating July 7th—the Chinese Valentine's Day. The painting and calligraphy work on the wall, as well as the objects in the coach, can be viewed close up by clicking on them.

After leaving the pavilion, turn left and follow the stone path to the Stone Boat.

Stone Boat

The Stone Boat has two floors. On the first floor, interactive objects include the lunch box, the carved lotus fish on the stone table, the fish food, and the fish bowl.

There are two hallways beside the stairs leading to the front of the boat. There is a lunch box sitting on a long stone table in the middle of the boat. You can open the box and take each food tray out by clicking on it.

You must remember the order of the food tray layers so that you can put them back in the correct order before you can move on.

At the front end of the boat, there is a bowl of fish food and a glass fish bowl with a goldfish. Pick up the fish food, proceed to edge of the boat and drop the fish food in the pond. Fish will swim over to eat the food. While doing this, you are also collecting the fish food (in inventory) at the same time for use in later sites. Clicking on the lotus fish on the table will activate an animation on how Lotus Spring was able to carve fishes out of lotus roots and magically animate them in the pond.

The stairs will lead you to the second floor, where you will see bird in a cage and cranes flying away. The surrounding garden views from a high viewpoint are spectacular.

Royal Chamber

Follow the path off the bridge from the Stone Boat and go to the building side entrance, a small opening in the cement blocks. In front of the Royal Chamber there is a small lotus pond with a water fountain that becomes louder as you walk towards it.

This building is divided into three sections: east room, west room, and middle room.

There is a bed in front of which there are two candles on a stand. In order to watch the related animated episode, the candles must be lit using the matches in inventory (collected at first location).

The makeup dresser has interactivity. There is a closet in which Xian Feng and Lotus Spring's clothes are stored. Look inside.

In front of the window, a parrot swings back and forth on a stand. On the other side, there is a table on which there are three objects: a treasure pot, an ivory box, and a flowerpot.

Click on the treasure pot; one lotus seed pops out. Click on the lotus seed to see how Lotus Spring performs her marriage tradition. Keep referring to the Diary to learn the story as you see the animations.

The box contains one of the two pearls given to Lotus Spring by Xian Feng at the first location. Click on the pearl. Later, click the parrot.

Game Room

After leaving the Royal Chamber, turn right and follow the building paths. Pass through a moon-shaped door and enter the yard in front of the game room. Just before the archway is a well with a brief animation.

There is a peacock in the middle of the yard looking for food. Take some fish food from your inventory and feed the peacock. It will thank you with its beautiful feathers.

Turn right, walk up the steps, and enter the game room. In the middle of the room there is the Game of the Flower Goddess. Click on the dice in the bowl. After the roll of the dice, the number yielded will decide which statue will be selected. Pick the selected goddess statue with your mouse. You will see an animation. Play and read the Diary to learn the goddess stories and names.

There is a Kang bed. On the Kang table, there is a set of Go game. You must get on the Kang bed to reach around the Kang table to discover the game manual in order to trigger the animation and story.

Painting Studio

The Game Room has two doors: front and back. You can leave the room from either door and follow the path or the gallery to Lotus Spring's painting studio.

The painting studio is a two-story building. The first floor is an art gallery, and the second floor is where Lotus Spring paints. The gallery is arranged like a maze. On the wall to the right of the door (if entered via the peacock), one painting shows the top view of gallery layout, which helps you get around the gallery.

In the middle of the gallery, there is the statue of the Patron Saint of Painters. Find the statue and grab the magic pen in his hand and put in inventory. After you get the magic pen, find the door to the stairs leading to the second floor.

On the second floor, there is one painting desk in front of the window. On the desk, there is one painting done by Lotus Spring. Above the window is one winter scenery painting. Clicking on both paintings using the magic pen will activate animations.

There are many paint boxes on the desk. Clicking in any one of the boxes using the magic pen will enable you to paint on a piece of white paper.

There is one bowl of paintings by Lotus Spring by the bookshelf near the door. Click the rolls to see the paintings.

After you come downstairs, find your way in the gallery to reach the back door, which leads you outside of the studio to other places in the garden. (This is a maze, but the directions are again seen in the overhead view to the right of the front door as you first walk in from the peacock's playground.)

Reading Room

After leaving the painting studio, follow the gallery, to get to the reading room, first building on the left.

To your left is one short Kang bed on which a set of incense burner is placed. Approach the burner set and get around the table. Clicking on the burner will activate an animation.

Beside the Kang bed, there is a seismograph with eight dragons holding eight golden balls in their mouths. Clicking on the golden balls will trigger the balls to fall into the frogs' mouths.

Against the right wall of the room, there is a large bookshelf. In front of the bookshelf is a writing desk and an armed chair. On the desk, there are some scattered paper pieces to the left and an armillary Sphere to the right. Walk around the table and sit in the chair and access the torn paper pieces. Clicking on the paper pieces will let you piece them together into a complete sheet of paper, with a poem written on it. Click on the sheet; you will be able to learn the story about this poem. Click on the armillary sphere and see how it operates.

Music Room

Adjacent to the Reading Room (walk to the left) is where Lotus Spring plays music.

Inside the building, there is a screen to the right. Behind the screen are many musical instruments that Lotus Spring played. In front of the window is a 25-string zither. By its side, a large cabinet along the west wall contains ten different musical instruments: Xun, Bamboo Flute, Xiao, Sheng, Pai Xiao, Yun Luo, Pi Pa, Yue Qin, Er Hu, Kong Hou. Clicking on any one of these instruments will let you listen to a famous piece played with this instrument.

To the left, there is a very quiet and secluded room where Lotus Spring sat and played the Qin. On the Qin platform, there is a Qin with one broken string. Walk onto the platform and position yourself to face the Qin. Clicking on it will activate an animation.

On the Kang bed facing the platform, there is the Score of Phoenix and a green jade tablet. These two objects are also interactive. The Score shows you what a Chinese ancient music score looks like, and the jade tablet tells you the secret behind it.

Dining Room

After leaving the Music Room, you will see a two-story building on the left. This is the Dining Room. Walk along the path and through an octagonal brick door, then along the walkway around the building to reach the front doors to the building.

The first floor is for resting and meeting. Proceed to the left back corner of the room to open a secret door behind the screen. The staircase behind the door leads upstairs. After getting upstairs, walk around to the front door.

The upstairs is a dining room. In the center, there is a large dining table with many dishes. Find the jade wine pot on the table and click on it. This will trigger one episode of the story.

Some of the other objects in the room are also interactive, such as the Buddha box, the dessert pots, etc.

The Path

The garden path continues after the dinning room. You will come across the waterfall. The stone steps are for you to cross the water. On one of the steps, turn left and see the waterfall in motion, and a large lotus flower flows down with the water.

After the waterfall, you will pass by a flower grave and see the faded illusions of Lotus Spring burying flowers. It will start to rain when you are near the grave.

Broken Bridge

At the end of the path is a broken bridge without wooden boards. You have to cross the river without using the bridge. There is a path leading down to the water by the bridge. When you are close to the water, the carp Lotus Spring released at the Stone Boat will swim over and wait to be fed. Using the spacebar to access your treasure bag, pick some fish food from inventory, and feed the carp. The carp will build a lotus leaf bridge for you to cross the water.

Swing

After crossing the river, follow the path, which leads you to the top of the hill. On the hill, there is a pavilion. Inside the pavilion a Ju lies on the ground. Clicking on it will activate an animation.

By the pavilion, there is a swing. At a particular angle, you will see, from Xian Feng emperor's mind, the illusion of Lotus Spring on the swing.

Buddhist Temple

The path down the hill leads you to a Buddhist temple at the bottom of the hill.

Enter the temple through the backdoor. You will see Lotus Spring's unreal images of worshiping the Buddha. At one end of the temple, a small table stands against the wall. On the table there is a tube of bamboo fortune sticks and a stick book.

Check out the stick that lies on the table, which was picked by Lotus Spring. The stick will take you to the corresponding page in the stick book based on the stick number. The page explains to you if the stick is good or bad.

Click on the bamboo stick tube; a stick will jump out randomly, then you can read the explanation of your stick in the book.

Knitting Room

Leave the temple from the front doors. Walk ahead, to arrive at the back door of the main chamber of Lian Xi Le Chu. Before you enter the door, turn right and walk straight along the gallery to a bamboo gate. At the doorstep, turn left to face the door and push it open.

You will see Lotus Spring sitting on a stool in the room to your right and making paper cuts. To your left is a room where Lotus Spring did embroidery. On the stand, there is one piece of handkerchief with unfinished embroidery. Use the sewing needle you collected in inventory to finish the embroidery.

Main Chamber

Return to the backdoor to the main chamber of Lian Xi Le Chu, Shen Xiu Si Yong. Open the door; you will be facing the back of a large screen. Walk around it.

The chamber is quite large and is divided into five sections. The main section in the center has a formal imperial throne arrangement.

To the right, there are two small sections. The first is a resting place with chairs and a tea table. On the opposite side, there is a Chinese herb cabinet, beside which there is a long table with grinding tools. You can see Lotus Spring grinding medicine.

To the right, facing you, there is one large treasure cabinet. This cabinet is a secret door. Use the flower goddess statue you collected from the Go game and put it into the empty slot in the cabinet. The cabinet will separate, and the door will open. Inside is a round hall, where a marble statue of Lotus Spring use to stand. Now the statue is broken into pieces on the ground. Use the cursor to pick up the pieces and assemble them. Under the last piece you will find a key.

Pick up the key and go to the other side of the chamber. Open the door to Lotus Spring's bedroom; you will see her unreal images of brushing hair and images of her opening the cabinet on the bed.

Get onto the bed and use the key to open the cabinet; you will find the second pearl that Xian Feng gave Lotus Spring. Click on the pearl to activate an animation.

Water Gallery

After leaving the main chamber from the front door, you are in the court yard. It is evening. Turn left and walk along the gallery, which will lead you to a square gallery over the water. You will see Lotus Spring walking in front of you, enjoying the lotus pond under moonlight. Follow Lotus Spring and enter a three-section building on the south side of the gallery. To the right is a small dining table with some food. To the right is the setup for worshiping the moon. There is one lotus-shaped lamp on the table, which you can light up with the match you have collected. Enjoy our favorite animation.

Open Pavilion

Leave the gallery over water through a door in the middle of the gallery. The door is connected to a stone pathway in front of the main chamber. Walk to the middle of the pathway and turn left, where you will see a pair of "married trees" and one open pavilion in the water beyond the trees.

In the center of the open pavilion there is a sitting bed, on which the handkerchief that Xian Feng emperor gave Lotus Spring. Walk around the sitting bed and get close to pick up the handkerchief. Enjoy the final animation and finishing your Dreams of Lotus Spring book.

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