07/05/2017
Poisoning Mother-In-Law
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.”
Moral: Kindness is a reaction. Starting from
today, try to be kind to EVERYBODY, even your
ENEMIES!
