伶牙利爪ling ya li zhaolíng yá lì zhǎobe smart; be very capable
❍ 只是宝玉身边一干人都是～的，那里插的下手去？ (《红楼梦》 286)❶…but his other attendants were too smart to allow her to put herself forward.
❷Unfortunately the little group of boy-servants who had accompanied him into the garden guarded their privileges with tooth and claw and were careful to allow no toehold to an ambitious outsider. |