还有一个外室 快一年了
“and even a mistress outside for nearly a year.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
“Young as he is, he already keeps several chamber maids”
还有 一个 外室 快一年了
“and even a mistress outside for nearly a year.”
“How can such a person pass the exams?”
Direct spoken expression in this communicative setting.
Unlike official concubines who were formally introduced into the ancestral household, keeping a secret mistress outside damaged a scholar's moral standing and eligibility for imperial exams.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
mistress kept outside the household
A traditional historical term for a woman kept in a separate residence outside the formal domestic compound without formal concubine status.
nearly a year already
A common time duration phrase indicating an ongoing state that has persisted for almost twelve months.
Marks a change of state and indicates that the duration has reached the specified threshold.
