卖了麦子买笼屉，不蒸别的蒸口汽賣了麥子買籠屜，不蒸別的蒸口汽賣了麥子買籠屜，不蒸別的蒸口汽

sold the wheat to buy a steamer: not steaming anything else, just steaming a puff of steam

Saying俗语俗語

Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Rarely used now

Meaning: Being determined not to be outdone, to compete and show you have spirit.
Wordplay: 蒸 (zhēng, steam) sounds the same as 争 (zhēng, strive), and 汽 (qì, steam) as 气 (qì, spirit); 争口气 means to make a point of proving oneself.

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Simplified: 卖了麦子买笼屉，不蒸别的蒸口汽
Traditional (Taiwan): 賣了麥子買籠屜，不蒸別的蒸口汽
Pinyin: màile màizi mǎi lóngtì, bù zhēng biéde zhēng kǒu qì
Bopomofo: ㄇㄞˋ ˙ㄌㄜㄇㄞˋ ˙ㄗㄇㄞˇ ㄌㄨㄥˊ ㄊㄧˋ，ㄅㄨˋ ㄓㄥㄅㄧㄝˊ ˙ㄉㄜㄓㄥㄎㄡˇ ㄑㄧˋ

Written with HSK 7-9 vocabulary, at CEFR level C1.

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