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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