During the Western Han Dynasty, a country woman had close friendships with several elderly ladies in her village, often sharing their innermost thoughts and always helping each other through difficulties.
One day, the woman's meat at home was stolen. Her mother-in-law accused her of stealing and eating it, scolding her harshly, saying, "Go back to your mother's house! I don't want a daughter-in-law like you anymore."
This woman had not stolen the meat, but she could not defend herself and was deeply distressed. Before returning to her mother's home, she went to her closest old neighbor, recounted the whole story, and said, "I cannot defend myself or clear my name. My mother-in-law is extremely harsh, and I have no choice but to go back to my family."
The old woman comforted her, saying, "Don't worry. Walk slowly on your way to your mother's home, and I'll find a way to make your mother-in-law catch up and call you back."
After the woman left, the old crone grabbed a bundle of hemp and rushed to her house, telling the mother-in-law, "My dog, I don't know where it got a big piece of meat from. A stray dog came to fight for it, and they had a terrible brawl. That stray bit my dog nearly to death and stole the meat. My fire has gone out, so I want to use this hemp to light a flame at your place, and once the dog dies, I'll cook it up for a meal."
Hearing this, the woman's mother-in-law was greatly shocked and said, "So our meat was carried off by a dog. I wronged my daughter-in-law. Light the fire yourself, and I will send someone to bring her back immediately."
So she immediately sent someone to chase after them and bring the daughter-in-law back.
The storm had finally subsided.
Later, the idiom "Bundle Thorns (Tangled Hemp) to Borrow Fire" came to describe someone skilled at pleading with others to resolve disputes.
Source: *Han Shi Wai Zhuan*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "束蕴请火" came to describe how someone skilled at pleading with others to resolve disputes.