Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

Chinese idioms

have ulterior motives

别有用心

(biéyǒu yònɡxīn)

A: Did you see the Andy Lau movie Infernal Affairs?

你看刘德华的电影《无间道》了吗？

(nǐ kàn liú déhuá de diànyǐnɡ wújiāndào le ma?)

B: Of course! He acted as an undercover agent, appearing to be an honest police officer while in fact he had ulterior motives and was stealing information from police.

当然看啦！他演一个卧底,表面是好警察,而实际上别有用心,盗取警方情报。

(dānɡrán kàn la! tā yǎn yīɡè wòdǐ, biǎomiàn shì hǎo jǐnɡchá, ěr shíjìshanɡ biéyǒu yònɡxīn, dàoqǔ jǐnɡfānɡ qínɡbào.)