宮主甦醒 The Princess Awakens a Stranger
卻說宮院中的大小侍婢見玉英跌死，急走金鑾殿，報與三宮皇后道：「宮主娘娘跌死也。」皇后大驚，隨報太宗。太宗聞言，點頭嘆曰：「此事信有之也。朕曾問十代閻君：『老幼安乎？』他道：『俱安，但恐御妹壽促。』果中其言。」合宮人都來悲切，盡到花陰下看時，只見那宮主微微有氣。唐王道：「莫哭！莫哭！休驚了他。」遂上前將御手扶起頭來，叫道：「御妹甦醒甦醒。」那宮主忽的翻身，叫：「丈夫慢行，等我一等。」太宗道：「御妹，是我等在此。」宮主擡頭睜眼觀看道：「你是誰人，敢來扯我？」太宗道：「是你皇兄、皇嫂。」却说宫院中的大小侍婢见玉英跌死，急走金銮殿，报与三宫皇后道：「宫主娘娘跌死也。」皇后大惊，随报太宗。太宗闻言，点头叹曰：「此事信有之也。朕曾问十代阎君：『老幼安乎？』他道：『俱安，但恐御妹寿促。』果中其言。」合宫人都来悲切，尽到花阴下看时，只见那宫主微微有气。唐王道：「莫哭！莫哭！休惊了他。」遂上前将御手扶起头来，叫道：「御妹苏醒苏醒。」那宫主忽的翻身，叫：「丈夫慢行，等我一等。」太宗道：「御妹，是我等在此。」宫主擡头睁眼观看道：「你是谁人，敢来扯我？」太宗道：「是你皇兄、皇嫂。」
逐句解 Line by line
We tell now how the palace maids, great and small, seeing that Yuying had fallen dead, ran in haste to the Hall of the Golden Bells and reported to the empresses of the Three Palaces, saying: 'The Princess our lady has fallen dead.'
金鑾殿 (Hall of the Golden Bells) is the principal audience hall. 三宮, the 'Three Palaces,' is a conventional shorthand for the imperial consorts. Note 中 in 宮院中 is the ordinary locative zhōng, 'within.'
The empresses were greatly alarmed, and reported at once to Taizong.
A single clause of relay: the news climbs the palace hierarchy from maids to consorts to the emperor himself.
When Taizong heard it, he nodded and sighed, saying: 'This thing was truly foretold. I once asked the Ten Kings of the Underworld, “Are the old and the young at peace?” and they answered, “All are at peace, yet we fear the imperial sister’s span will be cut short.” Their word has proved true.'
Taizong recalls his interview with the Ten Kings in Chapter 11. The crux word is 中 in 果中其言, read zhòng — 'to hit the mark, to prove true' — not the locative zhōng. 壽促 (shòu cù) is 'a lifespan cut short.' The nested quotation marks preserve the layered report (Taizong quoting the Kings).
The whole company of the palace came grieving, and all went to look beneath the blossoming trees, where they saw the Princess faintly drawing breath.
盡 is read jìn throughout this reader (its jǐn sense is written 儘 in the 世德堂 text); here 盡到 means 'went, one and all.' 都 in 都來 is the collective dōu, 'all.'
The Tang king said: 'Weep not! Weep not! Do not startle her.' Then he came forward, raised her head with his own royal hand, and called out: 'Sister, awake, awake.'
御手, 'the royal hand,' marks the intimacy of the gesture — an emperor stooping to lift a fallen sister. 甦醒 (sū xǐng) is 'to revive'; 甦 is a graphic variant of 蘇.
The Princess suddenly turned over and cried: 'Husband, walk slower — wait a while for me.'
The comic engine of the scene now engages: the body is Yuying's, but the words are Cuilian's, calling after the husband she trailed on the road back from the shades. 一等 here means 'wait a moment'; the 一 takes sandhi yì before 等 (děng, third tone).
Taizong said: 'Sister, it is we who are here beside you.' The Princess lifted her head, opened wide her eyes, looked about her, and said: 'Who are you, that you dare lay hold of me?' Taizong said: 'We are your royal brother and your royal sister-in-law.'
The estrangement is complete: Cuilian, in Yuying's body, does not recognize the emperor as her brother. 皇兄／皇嫂 are the honorific 'royal elder brother' and 'royal sister-in-law.'
The awakening is built on sustained dramatic irony. Everyone at court sees the body of the princess Yuying and expects her to know them; what speaks through that body is the displaced soul of a Junzhou goodwife, still mid-quarrel with a husband invisible to the onlookers. Taizong alone holds the interpretive key, having been warned below that his sister's life would be cut short — yet even he first reads the strange speech as the raving of a fall. The passage turns on a single polyphone: 果中其言, where 中 read zhòng ('hit the mark') quietly confirms that the underworld's prophecy has landed exactly.