劉全復命 Liu Quan Reports at Court
唐王當殿,忽有當駕官奏道:「萬歲,今有進瓜果人劉全還魂,在朝門外等旨。」唐王大驚,急傳旨,將劉全召進,俯伏丹墀。太宗問道:「進瓜果之事何如?」劉全道:「臣頂瓜果,徑至鬼門關,引上森羅殿,見了那十代閻君,將瓜果奉上,備言我王慇懃致謝之意。閻君甚喜,多多拜上我王道:『真是個有信有德的太宗皇帝!』」唐王当殿,忽有当驾官奏道:「万岁,今有进瓜果人刘全还魂,在朝门外等旨。」唐王大惊,急传旨,将刘全召进,俯伏丹墀。太宗问道:「进瓜果之事何如?」刘全道:「臣顶瓜果,径至鬼门关,引上森罗殿,见了那十代阎君,将瓜果奉上,备言我王慇懃致谢之意。阎君甚喜,多多拜上我王道:『真是个有信有德的太宗皇帝!』」
逐句解 Line by line
The Tang king was holding court when an officer of the imperial carriage suddenly announced: 'Your Majesty, the melon-bearer Liu Quan has now returned to life, and waits beyond the palace gate for your command.'
當駕官 is an officer in attendance on the emperor's carriage. The reading turns on 還 in 還魂, 'to return the soul, to come back to life,' read huán; 朝 in 朝門 is the court-sense cháo.
The Tang king was greatly astonished. He quickly gave order to summon Liu Quan in, who bowed low upon the vermilion steps.
丹墀 (dān chí), the 'vermilion steps' or cinnabar terrace before the throne, is where subjects perform obeisance. 將 in 將劉全 is the disposal jiāng.
Taizong asked: 'How went the matter of the melons and fruit?'
The emperor turns at once to the errand's outcome, the debt of gratitude owed to the Ten Kings for his own return from the dead.
Liu Quan said: 'Your servant bore the melons and fruit straight to the Gate of Ghosts, and was led up to the Hall of Judgment, where I saw the Ten Kings of the Underworld. I presented the melons and fruit and spoke fully of my king's earnest thanks.'
鬼門關 is the Gate of Ghosts, the pass into the underworld; 森羅殿 (Hall of Judgment) is the seat of the Ten Kings. 慇懃 (yīn qín) is 'earnest, assiduous,' a variant writing of 殷勤. 那 in 那十代閻君 is the demonstrative nà.
'The Kings were greatly pleased, and again and again sent up their respects to my king, saying, “Truly he is a Taizong emperor of faith and of virtue!”'
甚 in 甚喜 is the intensifier shèn, 'very' — distinct from the interrogative shén of 甚麼. The Kings' praise, 有信有德 ('of faith and of virtue'), sounds the chapter's keynote: it is Taizong's fidelity in keeping his underworld promise that earns him merit.
Liu Quan's arrival converts private prophecy into public proof. His report is framed as bureaucratic due diligence — an errand discharged, thanks conveyed, a superior's pleasure recorded — in keeping with the novel's persistent vision of the underworld as a mirror of the Tang civil service, complete with gates, halls, ledgers, and wardens. The Kings' commendation of Taizong as an emperor 'of faith and of virtue' is not idle flattery: it restates the moral logic by which he was granted extra years of life, and prepares the ground for the great merit-making rite that will occupy the rest of the chapter.