倒是给朝廷省了一笔开销
“How kind of you to save the court the expense.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
给自己提前备下了寿材？
“So you've prepared your own coffin?”
倒是 给朝廷 省了一笔开销
“How kind of you to save the court the expense.”
上好的金丝楠木啊
“Such prime golden-thread nanmu.”
“How considerate of him to save the state the trouble of paying for his funeral.”
In imperial China, officials of rank often received state allowances or imperial gifts for burials, making someone's advance purchase of an expensive coffin a darkly humorous topic.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
saved an expense / saved a sum of money
A very common collocation used in both spoken and written Chinese to describe cutting down or avoiding costs.
actually / on the contrary
Used as an adverb to concede a point unexpectedly or introduce ironic silver linings.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“cannot outweigh the trouble she brings to the court,”
“wasting money and national resources?”
“you don't need to save me money.”
“Unfortunately, it didn't shake the ministry's foundation.”
“Don't waste your money on this.”
“Isn't this just wasting taxpayers' money?”