When they arrived at Bai Fen’s palace again, they didn’t waste any time with other matters. Bai Fen went to retrieve the jade tablet that contained her ancestors’ names and carried it back to the sitting room.

Looking at the faint engraving on the outside, she sighed. “This can’t compare to that of your father’s family. When Qiang Yan and I fled back then, we didn’t have time to take the original so we could only make a new one with what we knew. Unfortunately, we were only children so apart from the two generations above, nothing is known.”

Jing He knew about this, of course, so it didn’t come as a surprise. “Don’t worry about it, mother. Even if their names are not included and nobody remembers them specifically, at least their family lives on. Isn’t that what everyone hopes for?”

Bai Fen nodded. If it was her, she would certainly think that way. Yes, as long as her son was well, every sacrifice she made was worth it. Her name being forgotten … what did it matter if at least her child lived on and lived well and the generations to come were prosperous? Of course, losing the original jade tablet meant that a disaster had occurred so … she naturally hoped that this one would live on.

She handed it over and then turned to look at Jinde and Leng Jin Yu. From her previous talks with Qiu Ling, she knew that the dragons didn’t have the habit of creating these. That made things difficult for the custom as both families’ ancestors were supposed to be worshiped. But then, not having a tablet was probably the least of the problems in that regard. After all, Qiu Ling’s mother … don’t even mention not knowing her family, Qiu Ling certainly wouldn’t want to pay respect to those ancestors either.

Jinde had already taken off the veiled hat now that they were inside. Seeing her gaze, he smiled back and then pulled out two jade tablets. “Well, we don’t have the habit to make these but seeing as it was important for this and we didn’t want the child to be deprived of the full experience, we made one for each of our families. I’m afraid we are in the same situation as you though: We don’t know much about the previous generations so they are a little bare.”

He turned to Qiu Ling and handed over the first one. “This one is for your father’s family. I included his name since, well …” He lowered his gaze and forced himself to smile, not wanting to disturb the atmosphere. “I knew his parents and I heard about their parents so I included their names, although I am not sure if I got the lines right.”

The jade tablets of the gods were created based on the matrilineal or patrilineal line of the family, depending on the person’s gender. But while he had known Yuan Yin and Lin Cai better than he even knew his own parents, he wasn’t too clear on their family relationships. Lin Cai’s lineage could be checked as she had been a famous general and some records had survived the battles of their time but the same couldn’t be said for Yuan Yin. So in the end, he just included everything he knew.

Anyway, the engraving on the outside was only ornamental and the actual content was on the inside, created with spiritual energy. There was more than enough space to include all of it so he hadn’t been stingy. Qiu Ling had been deprived of having his family before he even became an adult. He ought to have at least this bit of his family’s history even if they couldn’t vouch that all of it was true. After all, in fact, Lin Cai hadn’t been Chun Yin’s biological mother either and neither of them had known for the longest time. Still, this was the woman Chun Yin had considered his parent until the day he died. Hopefully, Qiu Ling also cared more about that type of relationship than blood relations.

Qiu Ling took the tablet from his hands and nodded faintly. “I know. Thank you for this.” No matter what it included, it was precious to him who hadn’t had a family in so long. He hadn’t managed to meet his grandparents and he had lost his father early. Even regaining Jinde had needed him to wait for so long and if not for that, he wouldn’t have anything but Chun Yin’s and Jinde’s names in his tablet now because he couldn’t actually remember their parents’ names.

Staring at the engraving on the outside of the jade tablet that was almost exactly the same as the one on Jing He’s, he looked up at Jinde. “What about yours?” He knew that usually, for this occasion, you should receive the tablets of both your parents. Jing He had only been given Bai Fen’s because his father was being a stubborn mule so there was no way to get that one. Otherwise, he also should have both. As for him, Jinde had created one for Chun Yin. Surely, he would have made one for his own family as well?

Jinde looked at him and quietly took out the second jade tablet he had prepared. He hadn’t known for sure if he should give it to him. Even though Qiu Ling had taken him along for the previous customs, this might in part also be due to the fact that he was now married to Chun Yin’s reincarnation. Even though they were close, he knew that he wasn’t actually Qiu Ling’s parent, after all. He might have wanted to be but he hadn’t been given the chance and they had lost too much time for him to say in good conscience that he was. Hearing Qiu Ling ask for this tablet now … he had to admit that it made him happy.

“Well, I don’t know much about my own family either so … I only included my parents.” Anyway, even though his mother might still be alive, he doubted that she’d know much about his father’s family. At most, they could include one more generation but he didn’t want to look for her just for that.