with a chest full of scales and shells

with a chest full of scales and shells

It's a Chinese idiom. The Pinyin is Xi ō ngzh ō NGL í NJI ǎ, which means to refer to the evil intention. It comes from the biography of Chen Zhen in the annals of the Three Kingdoms.

The origin of Idioms

According to the biography of Chen Zhen in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wan, a long history, and Dong Yunshu, a minister of state, said: "Xiao Qi came to Wu before he came. He said for me that there are scales in the abdomen of Zheng Fang, and the local party thought that they could not be near."

Idiom usage

Used as a predicate or attributive; used of a villain.