笑话 我们卖一挺墨
“What a joke. We earn an honest 20 percent profit”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
“can easily earn at least 50 taels of silver.”
笑话 我们卖一挺墨
“What a joke. We earn an honest 20 percent profit”
本本分分地赚个两成的利润 倒是你田家的苏合油墨
“from selling one stick of ink. But as for your Tian family's Styrax resin ink—”
“You have no idea what you're talking about, stop making up absurd numbers.”
In traditional merchant culture, framing oneself as earning modest, honest profits while exposing a competitor's excessive margins is a key rhetorical weapon in commercial disputes.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
ridiculous; what a joke
Used as an abrupt interjection to scoff at another person's claim before disproving it.
one stick of Chinese ink
Note the specialized traditional classifier '挺' used specifically for molded solid ink sticks.