虚与委蛇 insincere and perfunctory
Explanation
虚与委蛇，意思是虚情假意，敷衍应付。形容表面上客气友好，实际上并不真诚。
Xū yǔ wēi yí means insincere and perfunctory. It describes a situation where someone is outwardly polite and friendly, but not genuinely sincere.
Origin Story
战国时期，著名的道家学者列子拜访了神秘莫测的郑国神巫季咸。季咸向列子炫耀自己的法术，列子却始终保持冷静，不卑不亢，言语间含蓄而微妙。季咸使尽浑身解数，却始终无法看透列子的心思，最后只得灰溜溜地离开。列子这种不卑不亢、不轻易流露感情的态度，正是“虚与委蛇”的最好诠释。面对比自己强势的人，并非一味迎合就能获得成功，反而需要保持清醒的头脑，以冷静的态度应对，才能立于不败之地。
During the Warring States period, the famous Daoist scholar Liezi visited the enigmatic Zheng diviner Ji Xian. Ji Xian showed off his magical abilities, but Liezi remained calm and unfazed, his words subtle and hard to decipher. Ji Xian tried everything, but could never see through Liezi's mind, and eventually left frustrated. Liezi’s composed and unemotional demeanor perfectly illustrates “xū yǔ wēi yí”. When facing someone more powerful, simply conforming won’t lead to success; rather, maintaining a clear head and calm approach is key to victory.
Usage
虚与委蛇通常用于形容人与人之间的交往，可以用来形容对人虚情假意，敷衍应付。
Xū yǔ wēi yí is commonly used to describe interactions between people, and can be used to describe insincerity and perfunctoriness.
Examples
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他对我的请求只是虚与委蛇，并没有真正放在心上。
ta dui wo de qingqiu zhishi xu yu wei she, bing meiyou zhenzheng fang zai xin shang. ta zai huiyi shang xu yu wei she, fuyan liao shi, bing meiyou tichu renhe you jianshe xing de yijian.
He only paid lip service to my request, not really taking it to heart.
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他在会议上虚与委蛇，敷衍了事，并没有提出任何有建设性的意见。
He just went through the motions at the meeting, offering no constructive suggestions。