Something that offers little benefit or interest, yet still requires effort to maintain or deal with; hardly worth the trouble, but also not easily abandoned. Akin to chicken ribs which have little meat but still require effort to gnaw.
Era:
Ancient
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Story:
The idiom originates from the Three Kingdoms period. In 217 AD, after Liu Bei's forces killed General Xiahou Yuan and captured Hanzhong, Cao Cao personally led a large army to confront Liu Bei. The two armies were locked in a stalemate for several months, and Cao Cao's army was gradually losing its advantage, facing a difficult and unpromising situation.
One evening, while Cao Cao was having dinner, he found chicken ribs in his soup. He casually remarked, 'Chicken ribs.'
His advisor Yang Xiu, upon hearing this, interpreted Cao Cao's words as a metaphor for the current campaign: Hanzhong was like chicken ribs \u2013 it offered little strategic gain (little meat) but was still troublesome to hold onto (hard to discard the bones). Yang Xiu concluded that Cao Cao intended to retreat.
The very next day, Cao Cao indeed issued an order for the army to withdraw, confirming Yang Xiu's interpretation.