岂能被这满身铜臭的人
“be schemed against and sullied”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
堂堂天子门生
“How can a dignified imperial scholar”
岂能 被这满身铜臭的人
“be schemed against and sullied”
给算计玷污了
“by some people reeking of money?”
“I am far above this greedy, low-class merchant to let them humiliate my scholar's pride.”
In traditional imperial China, Confucian scholars occupied the top social echelon while merchants, though wealthy, were stigmatized as morally tainted by the 'stink of copper' (铜臭).
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
reeking of money / vulgar and obsessed with filthy lucre
A classic derogatory idiom used to attack someone whose only value is money without moral virtue.
how could one possibly / how can it be that
A rhetorical classical adverb used in elevated spoken style to express utter impossibility and indignation.