笑藏温柔刀
[xiào zàng wēn róu dāo]
Translated as 'A Smile Conceals a Gentle Knife'. It derives from the idiom ‘ 笑里藏刀 ’, which means danger hides beneath smiling surfaces or false pretences. Instead of the usual ‘刀 (sharp knife)’ associated with harm or hostility, this one uses ‘温柔的 (gentle)', which creates a contradiction and gives an intriguing twist that softens what might be harsh reality, implying deeper, complex, even ambiguous aspects to human emotions and relationships where things are more complicated than appear on the surface.