你怕是打错了主意
“you've made a grave miscalculation.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
汪知州 你若是想草草了结此桩命案 以平安致仕
“Governor Wang, if you're thinking of hastily closing this murder case for a safe retirement,”
你 怕是 打错了主意
“you've made a grave miscalculation.”
下官愚钝
“I'm confused.”
“You think you can sweep this murder under the rug to retire safely? Think again.”
In imperial China, retiring safely (致仕) with reputation and pension intact was an official's ultimate goal, making threats to expose corruption just before retirement devastating.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
I'm afraid that; most likely
Commonly used in formal or semi-formal speech to soften the delivery of a blunt, undeniable fact or judgment.
miscalculated; barked up the wrong tree
An idiomatic expression warning someone that their sneaky plan or assumption will fail completely.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“I might have been wrong.”
“♪ Who hasn't paid the price and still fallen short? ♪ I was worried I'd chosen the wrong path.”
“I'm also hoping my suspicion is wrong.”
“Could it be that I made the wrong decision?”
“I thought too much”
“were you the one who gave them that idea?”