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.”
Author Unknown
Story Submitted by A.Bhatia
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