Chapter 181
Jiang Mingzhe took five and handed them to Li Ping.
Li Ping took them, held out his hand, and continued to ask for more.
Jiang Mingzhe gave away half of what he had before Li Ping finally withdrew his hand in satisfaction.
"The first trial is passed. On to the second." Li Ping carefully put away the signed and fingerprinted guarantee letter and waved his hand.
Wen Yuan led some people over to bring in a table.
Ten cups were arranged on the table. Each cup had a lid, making it impossible to see what was inside.
"Married life has its ups and downs. These cups contain double portions of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty flavors. As long as you finish one complete set of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty, you pass. Please go ahead." Li Ping added a playful lilt to the end of his sentence.
Normally, Jiang Mingzhe would find his son quite adorable like this.
Right now, however, Jiang Mingzhe only felt his hands itching to give him a smack.
Jiang Mingzhe shot a glance at Wen Yuan.
Wen Yuan stepped back behind Li Ping, pretending not to notice Jiang Mingzhe's gaze.
His current master was Li Ping. He would do whatever his master told him to do. As for his former master, naturally, he had to be cast to the back of his mind.
"Is the groom too scared?" Li Ping's provocative tone made Jiang Mingzhe's hands itch even more.
He silently repeated to himself again, "He's my biological son, my biological son..."
Jiang Mingzhe walked up to the table, looking closely and sniffing carefully.
He selected a cup and took off the lid. It was filled to the brim with yellow liquid.
Taking a small sip, a bitter taste filled his mouth.
It was coptis root water.
"You have to drink it all," Li Ping smiled.
Jiang Mingzhe downed it in one gulp, using his immense self-control to keep his face from twisting.
"The first cup of bitterness is done. Four flavors left, keep going," Li Ping urged with a smile.
Jiang Mingzhe chose a second cup. Opening the lid, he smelled a sour odor.
A cup full of vinegar.
Jiang Mingzhe drank it without changing his expression, greatly disappointing Li Ping, who had wanted to see him grimace.
The third cup Jiang Mingzhe selected was sugar water, which he calmly finished in one gulp.
The fourth cup was spicy, filled with red chili water.
Jiang Mingzhe, who was not very good with spicy food, began to cough uncontrollably after drinking it.
Cough, cough, cough...
He took a sip of the tea brought over by Chen Xiang to soothe his throat.
Jiang Mingzhe continued to choose.
His fifth choice was a repeat of sweet, and he drank another cup of sugar water.
For the sixth cup, he repeatedly chose spicy.
After drinking it, he continued to cough, cough, cough...
For the seventh cup, he finally selected salty.
It was overwhelmingly salty.
After finishing it, Jiang Mingzhe drank two cups of water to wash the salty taste out of his mouth.
"The second trial is passed, now for the third."
"Wait a moment," Jiang Mingzhe interrupted Li Ping.
"Giving up after just this much." Li Ping felt suspicious, panicked, and angry.
"If you dare to leave, I'll have Chen Xiang break your legs."
"I will not leave today until I have picked up your mother," Jiang Mingzhe stated his attitude firmly, and then explained the reason for his interruption.
Having drunk ten cups of liquid in a row, he couldn't hold it in and needed to go to the outhouse to relieve himself.
So that was the reason. Li Ping urged, "Go quickly and come back fast."
Jiang Mingzhe went to the backyard.
During this time, Li Ping had Wen Yuan clear all the cups from the table and bring out an embroidery basket.
Jiang Mingzhe quickly returned.
"The third trial is not difficult." Li Ping took out a handkerchief embroidered by Ye Yunniang.
The handkerchief featured an embroidered pattern of a kitten pouncing on butterflies.
"Analyze how many colors were used for the butterflies, find the corresponding colored embroidery threads in the basket, and thread the needles."
The two butterflies were primarily yellow, supplemented by black, and accompanied by various other colors such as orange-red, gray, and white.
Jiang Mingzhe picked out the embroidery threads corresponding to the colors he observed.
"You're missing some," Li Ping said, giving the answer after a single glance.
"Which ones are missing?"
"Look for yourself." Li Ping would not tell Jiang Mingzhe the real answer.
Jiang Mingzhe observed carefully, "None are missing."
"Are those two eggs hanging under your eyebrows? It's so obvious and you can't see it," Li Ping mocked.
The bystanders thought: He sure knows how to insult someone.
Jiang Mingzhe did not get angry. "How many colors are there in total?"
"My mother used ten types of embroidery thread to embroider the two butterflies," Li Ping gave a little hint.
Jiang Mingzhe picked out seven types, comparing the butterflies with the embroidery threads.
"Someone's care for my mother is just lip service. You don't pay any attention to what my mother does in her daily life."
Jiang Mingzhe ignored Li Ping's words. He observed the handkerchief in his hand and the colors of the butterflies, noticing that the orange-red on the wings had a gradient.
He selected three shades of orange-red with different depths of color.
"I've finished selecting."
"Thread the needles."
Jiang Mingzhe had chosen correctly. Pinching a needle in one hand and holding the thread in the other, he carefully threaded the needle.
Jiang Mingzhe had never done any sewing work before. He threaded the needles very slowly, looking quite clumsy.
By the time all ten needles were threaded, sweat had beaded on Jiang Mingzhe's forehead.
Checking that the needles were successfully threaded, Li Ping stepped aside.
Jiang Mingzhe arrived at the door, only to be blocked by Baise.
"Because of your father-son bond, Li Ping couldn't bear to be too hard on you. But I am different. I won't go easy on you at all."
"Bring it on." Jiang Mingzhe did not mind Baise's provocation.
That was exactly the attitude she wanted.
Baise laid out ten sheets of paper on the table, each bearing a red handprint.
"You have three chances. Choose which one belongs to Ye Yunniang."
This game of picking the bride's handprint that Baise came up with was something that had never been seen in previous wedding door games.
The people around watched curiously, guessing which one was Ye Yunniang's handprint.
They analyzed the characteristics of Ye Yunniang's hands and so on.
These discussions and analyses displeased Jiang Mingzhe. He did not want his wife to be the subject of other people's discussions.
"You've gone too far."
"Hurry up and choose," Baise realized she had perhaps been a bit too reckless. But in order to beat Jiang Mingzhe, she couldn't care less about that.
After looking them over, Jiang Mingzhe pulled out one from the middle.
Baise took it and unfolded a folded corner, confirming that it was indeed Ye Yunniang's handprint.
"How did you guess it?" Baise had looked at them several times herself and hadn't noticed any differences.
Afraid she would mix them up, she had been forced to fold the paper to add a small mark.
Baise looked at Li Ping beside her, "Did you tell him?"
"Don't slander me. I did not." Li Ping would never give Jiang Mingzhe any hints.
"You underestimate me too much." When it came to his beloved, Jiang Mingzhe could recognize any trace of her.
"You pass this trial, but the next one won't be so easy."
Baise pulled Li Pan over from the side.
"This trial is called drawing eyebrows. As a husband, you must know how to draw your wife's eyebrows. The bride cannot leave her room, so you will use your son as a substitute to draw his eyebrows."
Baise pushed Li Pan toward the middle.
"Can we switch someone else?" Li Pan was unwilling.
"If you don't mind your father drawing eyebrows for another woman, I can find a woman."
"No way." Hearing this, Li Pan immediately disagreed. He took the makeup brush from Baise's hand and shoved it into Jiang Mingzhe's hand.
"You draw."
"Be careful," Baise smiled as she handed Jiang Mingzhe a pair of eyebrow scissors.
Jiang Mingzhe did not take them.
"How can the dignified Second Master Jiang, Commander Jiang, concede defeat so easily?" Baise clicked her tongue, looking Jiang Mingzhe up and down.
"Stepfather, don't make me look down on you," Li Ping added fuel to the fire from the side.
Li Pan looked at his younger brother, then at Jiang Mingzhe, and took a step, wanting to leave.
But he was grabbed by Baise.
"Pan'er, why are you leaving? Your stepfather is waiting."