provide wide opportunities for airing views

enjoy one's own single fragrance

look at sb. with new eyes

attend to one thing and lose sight of another

kick down the ladder

Each administers in his own way.

willing to take an inferior position

plot and wrangle(confront and intrigue against each other and get locked in strife)

Guan Cheng Zi

henchmen and lackeys(hired thug)

batten on extortions(fleece the people and get rich)

scrawly handwriting

dog-eat-dog

person in the know

fall on the ground face down

bewitch somebody by flattery(honey up to)

musty old books

snowball

cornball

the gate of hell(the jaws of death)