改雨犯條 The Dragon Breaks the Law of Heaven
至次日，點札風伯、雷公、雲童、電母，直至長安城九霄空上。他挨到那巳時方布雲，午時發雷，未時落雨，申時雨止，卻只得三尺零四十點。改了他一個時辰，剋了他三寸八點。雨後發放眾將班師。他又按落雲頭，還變作白衣秀士，到那西門裡大街上，撞入袁守誠卦舖，不容分說，就把他招牌、筆、硯等一齊捽碎。那先生坐在椅上，公然不動。這龍王又掄起門板便打，罵道：「這妄言禍福的妖人，擅惑眾心的潑漢！你卦又不靈，言又狂謬。說今日下雨的時辰、點數俱不相對。你還危然高坐，趁早去，饒你死罪！」至次日，点札风伯、雷公、云童、电母，直至长安城九霄空上。他挨到那巳时方布云，午时发雷，未时落雨，申时雨止，却只得三尺零四十点。改了他一个时辰，克了他三寸八点。雨后发放众将班师。他又按落云头，还变作白衣秀士，到那西门里大街上，撞入袁守诚卦舖，不容分说，就把他招牌、笔、砚等一齐捽碎。那先生坐在椅上，公然不动。这龙王又抡起门板便打，骂道：「这妄言祸福的妖人，擅惑众心的泼汉！你卦又不灵，言又狂谬。说今日下雨的时辰、点数俱不相对。你还危然高坐，趁早去，饶你死罪！」
逐句解 Line by line
The next day, he mustered the Earl of Wind, the Duke of Thunder, the Cloud-Lad, and the Lightning-Mother, and went up to the ninth heaven above the city of Chang'an.
Rain-making is a staffed operation. 風伯, 雷公, 雲童 and 電母 — the Earl of Wind, the Duke of Thunder, the Cloud-Lad and the Lightning-Mother — are the personified spirits who attend it, and 點札 is to muster them by name-slip, as one calls a roll. (長 in 長安 is cháng.)
He held off until the hour of si before spreading the clouds, made the thunder break at wu, the rain fall at wei, and the rain cease at shen — and let fall only three chǐ and forty drops. He had shifted the hour by one, and docked the amount by three cùn and eight drops.
The crime is committed by arithmetic. Against a decree of clouds at chen, rain complete at wei, three chǐ three cùn and forty-eight drops, he delivers clouds at si, rain stopping at shen — the double-hour of roughly three to five in the afternoon — and three chǐ and forty drops. One hour late, three cùn and eight drops short. The tampering is as exact as the forecast was, which means he knows precisely what he is altering and by how much. 挨, 'to hold off, to drag out,' is read ái; 只得, 'only got,' takes 得 as dé; 那 is nà.
When the rain was done he dismissed his generals and sent them back. Then, pressing down his cloud-head, he changed once more into the white-robed scholar, went to the great street inside the West Gate, burst into Yuan Shoucheng's divining-shop, and, giving him no chance to speak, smashed his signboard, brushes, and inkstone all to pieces.
He dismisses his staff and goes straight round to collect. 不容分說, 'allowing no explanation,' is the phrase for barging in and starting before anyone can get a word out, and 捽碎 (zuó suì) is to smash to bits. 將 in 眾將 is jiàng, 還 in 還變作, 'changed back,' is hái, and 那 is nà.
The master sat in his chair, utterly unmoved.
Six characters, and the scene turns on them. 公然不動 is 'openly, entirely unstirred': a man whose shop is being demolished around him, sitting still. The dragon takes it for insolence. It is the first sign that he has misjudged everything. (不 is bú before the falling tone of 動.)
The Dragon King then swung up a door-plank to strike him, cursing: 'You demon who prates of fortune and disaster, you rascal who deludes the crowd's mind! Your divination has no power, your words are wild nonsense. The hours and drops of today's rain you named do not match at all. Yet still you sit there so composed — be off at once, and I will spare your life!'
掄起 (lūn) is to swing something up. The abuse repays close reading, because every charge in it is about to be transferred to the man making it: 妄言禍福, talking recklessly of fortune and disaster, and 擅惑眾心, deluding the public mind at will. 俱不相對, 'all fail to correspond,' has 相 as xiāng, and 危然高坐 is to sit lofty and composed.
The crime itself takes a few sentences. The dragon musters the spirits of wind, thunder, cloud and lightning and deliberately falsifies the decreed rain: clouds an hour late, the total short by three cùn and eight drops. The precision of the tampering mirrors the precision of the forecast, which is the point — he knows exactly what he is altering and by exactly how much. This is the 犯天條, the violation of Heaven's ordinance, though he is still thinking of it as winning a bet.
He returns in disguise to collect, smashes the shop and brandishes a door-plank, and his tirade is all confidence: 你卦又不靈，言又狂謬, your divination has no power, your words are wild nonsense. But the scene turns on one detail held in reserve — 那先生坐在椅上，公然不動, the master sits unmoved. The dragon reads the stillness as insolence; the reader already suspects it is knowledge. Bluster and calm are set against each other, and the whole weight of the chapter is about to shift.