才十八岁 屋里几个丫头 已经全都开了脸
“Only eighteen, he's already bedded several maids in his house.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
“That Young Master Liu is no good.”
才十八岁 屋里几个丫头 已经全都 开了脸
“Only eighteen, he's already bedded several maids in his house.”
“Any girl who marries him will have nothing but hardship ahead.”
“He is already a shameless hedonist who will mistreat any legitimate wife he marries.”
In pre-modern elite China, 'kai lian' (facial grooming ritual) marked a maid's promotion into a bedroom concubine; doing this extensively before marriage signaled poor self-control and disrespect toward a future primary wife.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
to pluck facial hair to mark marital status (traditionally promoting a maid to concubine)
A historical term indicating a woman's transition to marriage or becoming an official concubine/bedmaid of the master.
the maidservants assigned to one's personal quarters
Refers in historical contexts to maidservants serving intimately inside a master's bedchamber.
Marks completion and underscores the alarming fact that this state has already been reached at such a tender age.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“Start training her at 18, and ten years later she will be 28. - That's one way to go about it. - Forty-six.”
“I was only 18 then, young and hot-headed.”
“On your 18th birthday,”
“I'm already 18. It should not be early love.”
“What's wrong with a girl? She's still a Qin.”
“When you were 14 years old, you couldn't take care of yourself,”