繪像鎮門 The Painted Door-Gods
二將軍侍立門傍，一夜天曉，更不曾見一點邪祟。是夜，太宗在宮，安寢無事。曉來宣二將軍，重重賞勞道：「朕自得疾，數日不能得睡，今夜仗二將軍威勢甚安。卿且請出安息安息，待晚間再一護衛。」二將謝恩而出。遂此二三夜把守俱安。只是御膳減損，病轉覺重。太宗又不忍二將辛苦，又宣叔寶、敬德與杜、房諸公入宮，吩咐道：「這兩日朕雖得安，卻只難為秦、胡二將軍徹夜辛苦。朕欲召巧手丹青，傳二將軍真容，貼於門上，免得勞他。如何？」眾臣即依旨，選兩個會寫真的，著胡、秦二公依前披掛，照樣畫了，貼在門上。夜間也即無事。二将军侍立门傍，一夜天晓，更不曾见一点邪祟。是夜，太宗在宫，安寝无事。晓来宣二将军，重重赏劳道：「朕自得疾，数日不能得睡，今夜仗二将军威势甚安。卿且请出安息安息，待晚间再一护卫。」二将谢恩而出。遂此二三夜把守俱安。只是御膳减损，病转觉重。太宗又不忍二将辛苦，又宣叔宝、敬德与杜、房诸公入宫，吩咐道：「这两日朕虽得安，却只难为秦、胡二将军彻夜辛苦。朕欲召巧手丹青，传二将军真容，贴于门上，免得劳他。如何？」众臣即依旨，选两个会写真的，着胡、秦二公依前披挂，照样画了，贴在门上。夜间也即无事。
逐句解 Line by line
The two generals stood in attendance beside the gate, and all night until dawn not a single trace of anything uncanny was seen. That night Taizong slept peacefully in the palace, untroubled.
They do not fight anything. They stand there, and nothing comes. 將 in 二將軍 is jiàng, and 更 in 更不曾, 'not once,' is gèng.
At daybreak he summoned the two generals and richly rewarded them, saying: 'Since I fell ill I have not been able to sleep for days, and tonight, relying on the might of you two generals, I have been wholly at peace. Pray withdraw and take your rest, and guard me again come evening.' The two generals gave thanks and withdrew.
The emperor's thanks are worth reading for the exhaustion in them: days without sleep, then one quiet night. All three 將 here (二將軍 twice, then 二將) are jiàng; 得 in 得疾, 'fell ill,' and 得睡, 'to get sleep,' is dé; and 甚 in 甚安, 'wholly at peace,' is shèn.
For the next two or three nights the watch was likewise peaceful. Only the imperial meals grew less, and the illness turned graver.
御膳 is the emperor's food, and 病轉覺重 is the sickness turning heavier, with 重 read zhòng. The ghosts are held off; the harm they did is not undone. He is eating less and sinking.
Taizong, moreover, could not bear the two generals' hardship, and again summoned Shubao, Jingde, and the lords Du and Fang into the palace, instructing them: 'These two days I have indeed been at peace, but it only puts Generals Qin and Hu to the trouble of a whole night's watch. I wish to call skilled painters to render the true likenesses of the two generals and paste them on the gate, so as to spare them the toil. What do you say?'
The emperor's tender scruple is what founds the tradition. He cannot bear to keep two old soldiers on their feet all night, so he proposes to have them painted instead. 丹青, 'cinnabar and azure,' is the ordinary word for painting, named after its pigments. 將 in 二將 and 二將軍 is jiàng; 為 in 難為, 'to put to trouble,' is wéi; 得 in 免得, 'so as to avoid,' is de.
The officials at once followed the decree, chose two skilled portraitists, had the lords Hu and Qin dress as before in their armor, painted them to the life, and pasted the pictures on the gate. And that night, too, all was quiet.
寫真 is to paint a true likeness, and it is the same word modern Chinese uses for a photographic portrait. The generals dress up again and sit for it, the pictures go on the gate, and the night passes quietly: the images work exactly as well as the men did. The door-god has just been invented. 著 in 著胡、秦, 'had Hu and Qin,' is the directing zhuó.
The two generals succeed simply by standing there: not a ghost appears, and the emperor sleeps. But the chapter's famous turn is the emperor's tender scruple — unwilling to cost his generals their nightly rest, he has their portraits painted and pasted on the gate in their place. That detail is the crux of the door-god legend: the images work as well as the men, and the practice of pasting the armored likenesses of 秦叔寶 and 尉遲敬德 on doorways passes into custom.
The passage is quietly rich in the mechanics of a folk belief taking shape. The living guards give way to their painted 真容, 'true likenesses,' and the transfer of guardian power from person to image is exactly the logic of the New Year door-god prints that hung on Chinese gates for centuries afterward. The novel offers not merely the identity of the door-gods but the very moment their pictures first took up the watch — an origin-story compressed into one practical kindness at a sickbed.