Bai Fen glanced at her son and barely suppressed a chuckle. “I suppose they have some time until then but we’ll keep it in mind.”

“Mn. I guess they do. Looking at your son makes me wonder whether or not I should beat up Qiu Ling.”

Qiu Ling’s lips twitched. He was used to Jinde joking around with him but Jing He was still on edge so was this really the time for this?

Jinde completely ignored him though and instead turned to Jing He again. “You know, if he ever bothers you or tries to talk you into something you don’t want, you can come to me to hide out. He wouldn’t dare to confront me.”

“Ah?” Jing He looked at him in shock and then glanced at Qiu Ling before hurriedly shaking his head. “No, no, he would never.”

Jinde simply smiled. “Well, he’d better not.” He didn’t push the topic further though and instead turned back to Bai Fen and Qiang Yan. “Anyway, I hope you’ll be able to make good use of it.”

“I am sure we will.” Bai Fen accepted the box and closed it before turning to her brother.

Qiang Yan took a box out of his spatial ring and put it on the table, opening the lid for the other side to see. “I know a little about Qiu Ling and his family and what stood out to me from the beginning was how his father was always praised as a very talented swordsman, something that Qiu Ling had clearly inherited. These years, he has done his best to protect Jing He and I believe all of us are clear that the two of them will live in the dragon realm after the wedding so Bai Fen and I hope that he will continue to do so in the future. As our token of appreciation, we had a weapon forged that I hope will suit him.”

It might sound selfish to frame it this way but this was the combination of two families and their interests. To them who had watched Jing He struggling to grow up to adulthood, nothing was more important than his safety. Clearly, Qiu Ling thought the same and due to the curse of the dragons, Jing He’s life was now equal to that of Qiu Ling himself so his family wouldn’t be of any different opinion. Thus, this sword was actually a blessing to both of their children, hoping that they would be safe and protected and not suffer any harm.

Jinde inclined his head. “We will all protect him, I assure you of that.” He turned to look at Jing He again, his gaze softening. Just recently, he had lost his own child so he understood the wish to keep someone safe better than anyone.

Qiang Yan and Bai Fen naturally didn’t expect anything else. Apart from the very beginning, they had never worried about Qiu Ling being dependable. Now that there were even additional family members to rely on, Jing He would be even safer.

Bai Fen also turned to look at her son and smiled before turning back. “This is odd to say under these circumstances but it’s only a few more days. So far, my husband hasn’t caught on and I sure hope it stays that way or this will turn into a spectacle I’d rather avoid.”

Jinde inclined his head. “I suppose our chances aren’t too bad. Anyway, few people know the real purpose of the upcoming celebration yet, and those who do are trustworthy from what I’ve seen. Now, I believe there is one more custom to take care of today?”

Bai Fen nodded and got to her feet, carefully closing the box from the dragon realm and storing it away. This would be displayed on the wedding day for all to see but until then, it naturally had to be hidden to not leave any obvious clues lying around.

“Yes, the visit to the Tree of Love. In my husband’s family, we’d do these things on different days but I feel that with his current stance and also with your identity, it is better to make everything a little … less ostentatious.”

“I saw Cheng Dong get married. It was indeed quite pompous. Just as much as the day he acceded to the throne, to be honest.”

Bai Fen raised her brows but finally nodded. Both had happened long before she was even born so she couldn’t compare but just based on her own wedding and Rong Su’s enthronement, it couldn’t have been a subtle affair. The Heavenly Family liked to go all out on those occasions from what she had seen.

“The Heavenly Family likes to make the pre-wedding customs a week-long affair, with one custom per day and all of it being … well, rather grand. Back when I married Rong Su, I felt it was a lot, even though I was told that it had already been toned down because my father-in-law wasn’t quite happy with our union in the first place.”

Qiang Yan next to her smiled wryly, quietly thinking that maybe it would have been better to listen to him back then. It would have spared his sister a lot of heartache.

Bai Fen didn’t seem to think about those matters right now though and instead continued with her explanations. “So there is a precedent of simplifying things. In fact, even the wedding customs of the common folk are that way, including all the same steps but with less pomp around them and taking care of them in a shorter time frame. Usually, they do most of it the day before the actual wedding ceremony. I believe that in our case, I mixture of both is the best so today, I want to do the gift exchange, the ceremony at the Tree of Love, and then go to worship Tian and our ancestors. This will also give the children time to rest the next two days so they’ll have the energy for the ceremony.”

Jinde nodded. They had talked about this before and now that the actual time to do it arrived, he hadn’t changed his mind. As long as nothing unforeseen happens, they should continue following their original plan. “I’m happy with that. So let’s go.” Saying so, he turned to his husband, holding out a hand to get back the veiled hat. Unfortunately, before the ceremony, he also couldn’t just walk around with his face uncovered. Afterward though … well, there wouldn’t be a reason not to.