The Plot at the East Window Has Been Revealed

Characters:

Pronunciation: Dong(1) Chuang(1) Shi(4) Fa(1)

Explanation: Said of people whose evil plot has been exposed and are being punished

Tone: Negative

The Story: In the Southern Song Dynasty, the Prime Minister Qin Hui and his wife Wang discussed a plot at the east window of their house. The plot was about how to frame a case against General Yue Fei, who was fighting Jin's invasion.

Yue Fei was indeed killed because of their evil plot. Qin Hui and his son Xi died soon after. Wang asked a necromancer to pacify the souls of her husband and son. The necromancer saw Xi and asked Him, "Where's your father?" Xi told him that his father was in the netherworld. The necromancer then went there and saw Qin Hui. Qin Hui asked the necromancer to rush back and tell Wang that the plot at the east window had been revealed.

Usage Example (Pinyin): Dong(1) chuang(1) shi(4) fa(1) hou(4), ta(1) men(2) hen(3) kuai(4) tao(2) pao(3) le.

Usage Example (English translation): After the plot at the east window has been revealed, they soon ran away.

Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those above where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline study program.