方才下官进来时听闻
“I heard”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
不过
“However,”
方才下官进来时听闻
“I heard”
庄大师是嫌凶
“that Master Zhuang is a suspect.”
“I heard rumors outside that suspect Master Zhuang, and you need to know this.”
Traditional bureaucratic etiquette required subordinate officials to employ self-deprecating titles to show deference to ranking magistrates.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
just now; a moment ago
A formal, written, or historical equivalent of the modern colloquial 刚才.
this subordinate official (humble self-reference)
A humble first-person pronoun used exclusively by lower-ranking officials when speaking to their superiors in imperial China.