1752- Change Mother-in-law as Mother

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'The person who loves others will also be loved in return.'
A Chinese saying
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A long time ago in China, a girl named Li-Li got married & 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.
With the passage of time, the relationship between them only worsened.But what made Li-Li really angry was the ancient Chinese tradition according to which she had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. Li-Li’s husband D was caught in the middle and was helpless. He could not take either side and found it very embarrassing.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!
She went to see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs.She explained to him her predicament and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all.Mr. Huang thought for awhile. He was a very intelligent person. So he could understand the mental condition of Li-Li and realized that she was determined to kill her mother-in-law. Even if he refuses to help her, she would think of some other means to finish her job. Finally, he 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 shall do whatever you ask 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. If the truth of what you do comes out, both of us will be in serious trouble. 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. It may take six months but both of us would be safe and your purpose also would be achieved." Li-Li agreed.Li-Li understood the sane advice of Mr. Huang. She was very thankful of his help and also of his fool-proof plan that would not cause any problem to her. She decided to implicitly obey his words.
She hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.Weeks went by, and 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.Li-Li implemented her plan very systematically. She noticed that the old lady was gradually changing and treating her more and more kindly. However, she did not want to change her plans in the middle. But she could not miss the improvement in the behavior of her mother-in-law that was obvious. Sometimes, she was half-minded about her own plan to kill her mother-in-law; but she used to strengthen her will and continued.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 with her mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.The mother-in-law's attitude toward Li-Li appeared to have 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.Six months passed. Li-Li administered the final dose on that day. She knew that her mother-in-law would die very soon and it would appear like a natural death. But now her conscience bothered her very much. Was she not murdering a kind hearted lady who is her husband’s mother? She could not stand her compunction that was gaining strength day by day. Her guilt feeling did not allow her to sleep or behave normally. She thought about the whole thing for hours and decided to do whatever was possible for her to cancel her foolish action.
Li-Li rushed to Mr. Huang. He received her kindly and looking at her worried face, he told her, “Why are you worried, young lady? Is it about your mother-in-law? Don’t worry. She would die soon.” Li-Li became more uncomfortable with what he said. She started crying uncontrollably and sobbingly told Mr. Huang, "Dear Mr. Huang, Please forgive me. I have done a great blunder and I have also involved you in it. I should have understood that my mother-in-law is a kind person. I had imagined everything wrongly. Now, I have completely administered the slow poison that you gave me to kill her. I have done a great mistake. Please you have to help me undo the grave mistake I have don. Please help me by giving me an antidote to save my mother-in-law from the poison. She has 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. It was your wrong attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her during the last six months."
The moral of the story is that the way others treat is only a reflection of how we treat them.
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