Want to sound more natural in Mandarin? Learn the Chinese idiom that can mean not only making the kind of mistakes that hurt yourself, but also when your plans to harm someone else backfire.

小李：听说老赵匿名举报同事偷懒。

Xiǎo Lǐ: Tīng shuō Lǎo Zhào nìmíng jǔbào tóngshì tōulǎn.

Xiao Li: I heard Old Zhao anonymously reported a coworker for slacking off.

小王：结果呢？

Xiǎo Wáng: Jiéguǒ ne?

Xiao Wang: And what happened?

小李：结果调查时才发现，他自己摸鱼更严重。

Xiǎo Lǐ: Jiéguǒ diàochá shí cái fāxiàn, tā zìjǐ mōyú gèng yánzhòng.

Xiao Li: Turns out, when they investigated, they found he was slacking off even worse.

小王：哈哈，这不就是搬起石头砸自己的脚嘛！

Xiǎo Wáng: Hāhā, zhè bú jiù shì bān qǐ shítou zá zìjǐ de jiǎo ma!

Xiao Wang: Haha, isn’t that just “lifting a rock only to drop it on your own foot”? (Chinese idiom meaning “to shoot yourself in the foot”)