你跟那些墨商们 是不是早就勾结好了
“Did you and those ink merchants collude long ago,”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
我问你
“Let me ask you.”
你跟那些墨商们 是不是 早就 勾结 好了
“Did you and those ink merchants collude long ago,”
就等着赚李家的银子呢 还是说 这鱼胶一事
“just waiting to swindle the Li family's money? Or rather, in the Isinglass incident,”
Direct spoken expression in this communicative setting.
In traditional guild businesses like ink manufacturing, clandestine collusion (勾结) to swindle a prominent clan was considered deeply dishonorable and commercially fatal.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
to collude; to gang up with
A strongly derogatory term implying unethical or illegal secret cooperation.
long ago / for a long time already
Emphasizes that an action or state occurred well before the current moment.
Marks the completion or realization of the suspected plot (collusion).
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“even before the medicinal ink is completely sold out, you'd already break even.”
“You worked with the investor to deceive me, didn't you?”