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.”