07/10/2015
A long time ago in China, a girl named Li-Li got
married and went to live with her husband and
mother-in-law.
In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn’t
get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their
personalities were very different, and Li-Li was
angered by many of her mother-in-law’s habits. In
addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly.
Days passed days, and weeks passed weeks. Li-
Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing
and fighting. But what made the situation even
worse was that, according to ancient Chinese
tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law
and obey her every wish. All the anger and
unhappiness in the house was causing the poor
husband great distress.
Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law’s
bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she
decided to do something about it.
Li-Li went to see her father’s good friend, Mr.
Huang, who sold herbs. She told him the situation
and asked if he would give her some poison so
that she could solve the problem once and for all.
Mr. Huang thought for a while, and finally said,
“Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you
must listen to me and obey what I tell you.”
Li-Li said, “Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you
tell me to do.” Mr. Huang went into the back
room, and returned in a few minutes with a
package of herbs.
He told Li-Li, “You can’t use a quick-acting poison
to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that
would cause people to become suspicious.
Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that
will slowly build up poison in her body. Every
other day prepare some delicious meal and put a
little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order
to make sure that nobody suspects you when she
dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly
towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her every
wish, and treat her like a queen.”
Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and
hurried home to start her plot of murdering her
mother-in-law.
Weeks went by, months went by, and every other
day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her
mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang
had said about avoiding suspicion, so she
controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law,
and treated her like her own mother. After six
months had passed, the whole household had
changed.
Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much
that she found that she almost never got mad or
upset. She hadn’t had an argument in six months
with her mother-in-law, who now seemed much
kinder and easier to get along with.
The mother-in-law’s attitude toward Li-Li
changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own
daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives
that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could
ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now
treating each other like a real mother and
daughter.
Li-Li’s husband was very happy to see what was
happening.
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked
for his help again. She said, “Mr. Huang, please
help me to stop the poison from killing my
mother-in-law! She’s changed into such a nice
woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do
not want her to die because of the poison I gave
her.”
Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. “Li-Li,
there’s nothing to worry about. I never gave you
any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to
improve her health. The only poison was in your
mind and your attitude toward her, but that has
been all washed away by the love which you gave
to her.”
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