若不是他们为了钱财
“if they hadn't murdered the Qi family”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
大人
“Magistrate Cao,”
若不是 他们 为了钱 财
“if they hadn't murdered the Qi family”
谋害了齐家
“just for money,”
“They ruined innocent lives purely out of greed, and you must hold them accountable.”
Addressing an authority as 'dàren' while laying out wrongful grievances reflects the traditional dynastic legal process where commoners appeal directly to an official's sense of justice.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
if not for; were it not for
A formal, literary conjunction used to introduce a counterfactual premise explaining the cause of a tragedy.
for the sake of money/wealth
Commonly used to identify monetary greed as the primary motive behind unethical or criminal conduct.