point to a hill and talk about grindstone -- make concealed reference to something
It's a Chinese idiom, which means to sell stones on the mountain as a mill. It means to say something or promise something before you know it. It also refers to deception in name only. It comes from Lu Dongbin's Du Tieguai Li by Yue Bochuan of Yuan Dynasty.
The origin of Idioms
The first fold of Yuan Yue Bochuan's LV Dongbin's Du Tieguai Li: "all the people who come out of the gate come and go, and there are more private people and less public people. Has there ever been one that conforms to the way of heaven? Every time he pointed out the mountain and sold the mill, he divided the people into dungeons. "
Idiom usage
To be a subject, a predicate, an object; to be a case in point. The legend of Red Pear by Xu fuzuo in Ming Dynasty
Analysis of Idioms
Synonyms refer to mountains and grind
point to a hill and talk about grindstone -- make concealed reference to something
live on the labour of others - yī lái shēn shǒu,fàn lái zhāng kǒu
enjoy oneself so much that one doesn 't want to come back - lè ér wàng fǎn
with fame spreading far and wide - míng wén xiá ěr
point at the chicken and curse the dog - zhǐ jī mà gǒu