階前認夫 Recognition on the Palace Steps
正嚷處，只見四五個女官、兩三個太監扶著他，直至殿上。唐王道：「你可認得你丈夫麼？」玉英道：「說那裡話，我兩個從小兒的結髮夫妻，與他生男育女，怎的不認得？」唐王叫內官攙他下去。那宮主下了寶殿，直至白玉階前，見了劉全，一把扯住道：「丈夫，你往那裡去，就不等我一等？我跌了一跌，被那些沒道理的人圍住我嚷，這是怎的說？」那劉全聽他說的話是妻之言，觀其人非妻之面，不敢相認。唐王道：「這正是山崩地裂有人見，捉生替死卻難逢。」好一個有道的君王，即將御妹的妝奩、衣物、首飾，盡賞賜了劉全，就如陪嫁一般。又賜與他永免差徭的御旨，著他帶領御妹回去。他夫妻兩個便在階前謝了恩，歡歡喜喜還鄉。正嚷处，只见四五个女官、两三个太监扶著他，直至殿上。唐王道：「你可认得你丈夫么？」玉英道：「说那里话，我两个从小儿的结发夫妻，与他生男育女，怎的不认得？」唐王叫内官搀他下去。那宫主下了宝殿，直至白玉阶前，见了刘全，一把扯住道：「丈夫，你往那里去，就不等我一等？我跌了一跌，被那些没道理的人围住我嚷，这是怎的说？」那刘全听他说的话是妻之言，观其人非妻之面，不敢相认。唐王道：「这正是山崩地裂有人见，捉生替死却难逢。」好一个有道的君王，即将御妹的妆奁、衣物、首饰，尽赏赐了刘全，就如陪嫁一般。又赐与他永免差徭的御旨，著他带领御妹回去。他夫妻两个便在阶前谢了恩，欢欢喜喜还乡。
逐句解 Line by line
Even as she clamored, four or five palace women and two or three eunuchs came supporting her, straight up to the hall.
著 in 扶著他 is the durative zhe, marking the ongoing action of 'supporting.'
The Tang king said: 'Do you know this man for your husband?'
認得 ('to recognize, to know') takes the neutral-tone de, as listed among the resultative uses of 得.
Yuying said: 'What a thing to say! We two have been wedded husband and wife since we were children, and I have borne him sons and daughters — how should I not know him?'
說那裡話 is a set idiom of protest, 'what a thing to say!'; here 那 is the interrogative nǎ. 從小兒 ('from childhood') carries the diminutive suffix 兒, read er; 結髮夫妻 is 'a couple wedded in first marriage.' 認得 again takes de.
The Tang king bade an inner officer help her down.
攙 (chān) is 'to support by the arm.' The emperor now stages the confrontation that will test the borrowed-body claim.
The Princess came down from the throne hall to the foot of the white-jade steps; and seeing Liu Quan, she seized hold of him and said: 'Husband, where were you going, that you would not wait a moment for me? I took a fall, and was hemmed in and shouted at by those unreasonable people — what is the meaning of it?'
Three occurrences of 那 divide by sense: 那宮主 and 那些沒道理的人 are demonstrative nà, while 你往那裡去 ('where were you going') is interrogative nǎ. 一把扯住, 一等, and 一跌 all take sandhi yì.
Now Liu Quan, hearing that her words were his wife's words but seeing that her face was not his wife's face, did not dare to acknowledge her.
The crux of the recognition scene, poised on a single antithesis: the voice is Cuilian's, the face Yuying's. 相 in 相認 is xiāng ('to recognize one another'), and the 不 of 不敢 keeps its base tone bù before 敢 (gǎn, third tone).
The Tang king said: 'This is a very case of it — when mountains crumble and the earth splits open there are those who witness it, but to seize the living as a substitute for the dead is a thing seldom met with.'
Taizong frames the marvel in a proverbial antithetical couplet: cataclysms (山崩地裂) at least have witnesses, but a soul commandeering a living body to stand in for the dead (捉生替死) is rarer still. 難 in 難逢 is nán ('hard, difficult'). Rendered here as prose within the king's speech; see the note to the passage.
What a virtuous sovereign he was! He took at once the imperial sister's trousseau — her garments and her ornaments — and bestowed them all upon Liu Quan, just as if they were a bride's dowry.
妝奩 (zhuāng lián) is a bride's trousseau or dowry-chest. 將 in 即將御妹的妝奩 is the disposal jiāng; 盡 in 盡賞賜 is jìn ('entirely'). 好一個 takes yí before 個 (gè, fourth tone).
He also granted him a royal decree exempting him forever from corvée and labor service, and charged him to take the imperial sister home.
差徭 (chāi yáo) is compulsory 'corvée and labor service'; 差 here is chāi ('conscripted duty'), not chà. 著 in 著他帶領 is the causative zhuó ('to charge, to have someone do').
The two of them, husband and wife, then gave thanks for the grace before the steps, and in great gladness set off for home.
還 in 還鄉 is huán ('to return home'). The passage closes on the couple's departure, which the summary poem will crown.
The recognition turns on a single, beautifully cruel asymmetry: Cuilian, in the princess's body, knows Liu Quan at once and clings to him as her husband, while Liu Quan, hearing his wife's very words issue from a stranger's face, cannot bring himself to answer. Taizong resolves the impasse not by adjudicating identity but by an act of sovereign generosity — dowering the princess's body to Liu Quan and exempting him from all labor service, so that the borrowed body becomes, in effect, a lawful bride. His proverbial couplet ('mountains crumble... a substitute for the dead is seldom met') supplies the interpretive frame: the event is a genuine rarity, to be received rather than questioned. Note that this couplet, spoken within the king's line and introduced by 這正是, is set here as prose; it could equally be raised to embedded verse if the house style prefers.