这一年就是三两二十钱呀
“One year alone costs 3 taels and 20 mace.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
“They paid 3 years of tuition for that ingrate.”
这一年 就是 三两二十钱呀
“One year alone costs 3 taels and 20 mace.”
“Do the math—how much would that be after 3 years?”
“Look at all the hard-earned money we threw away on that ingrate!”
Providing tuition (shuxiu) was seen as a moral investment in a dependent's future; failing to repay that kindness draws intense moral condemnation as being an ungrateful wolf (baiyanlang).
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
that amounts to ... in just one year
Use when tallying recurrent expenses to emphasize how quickly costs accumulate over time.
Softens the assertion while adding emotional emphasis to the magnitude of the expense.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“20 taels then.”
“It's more than 200,000 yuan!”
“Twenty taels isn't a lot?”
“What? Over 2,000?”
“I don't make much money a month.”
“Only 100 taels a day?”