太公迎接 Squire Gao Comes Out
那太公即忙換了衣服，與高才出來迎接，叫聲：「長老。」三藏聽見，急轉身，早已到了面前。那老者戴一頂烏綾巾，穿一領蔥白蜀錦衣，踏一雙糙米皮的犢子靴，繫一條黑綠絛子，出來笑語相迎，便叫：「二位長老，作揖了。」三藏還了禮，行者站著不動。那老者見他相貌兇醜，便就不敢與他作揖。行者道：「怎麼不唱老孫喏？」那老兒有幾分害怕，叫高才道：「你這小廝卻不弄殺我也？家裡現有一個醜頭怪腦的女婿打發不開，怎麼又引這個雷公來害我？」那太公即忙换了衣服，与高才出来迎接，叫声：「长老。」三藏听见，急转身，早已到了面前。那老者戴一顶乌绫巾，穿一领葱白蜀锦衣，踏一双糙米皮的犊子靴，系一条黑绿绦子，出来笑语相迎，便叫：「二位长老，作揖了。」三藏还了礼，行者站着不动。那老者见他相貌凶丑，便就不敢与他作揖。行者道：「怎么不唱老孙喏？」那老儿有几分害怕，叫高才道：「你这小厮却不弄杀我也？家里现有一个丑头怪脑的女婿打发不开，怎么又引这个雷公来害我？」
逐句解 Line by line
The squire changed his clothes in haste and came out with Gao Cai to receive them, calling, "Elder!"
即忙換了衣服 — he changes at once. He does not receive strangers in his working coat, and the whole of Squire Gao's character sits in the promptness of that change.
Sanzang heard him, turned quickly about, and found him already at his side.
三藏 keeps 藏 as zàng, since it is a name. 早已到了面前: the old man has crossed the ground in the time it took the monk to turn round.
The old man wore a cap of black silk gauze and a gown of Shu brocade the colour of scallion-white;
A second clothes inventory, set against Gao Cai's in the street. 烏綾巾 is the black silk headcloth of a scholar-farmer. 蔥白 is the pale green-white of a scallion stem, and 蜀錦 the famous brocade of Sichuan. This is a rich man dressed in a hurry.
on his feet were calfskin boots the colour of unhusked rice, and about his waist a sash of black-green braid.
糙米皮 is the colour of unpolished rice; 犢子靴 are calfskin boots; 絛子, tāo zi, is a woven cord or sash. The list is unheroic on purpose — no jade, no gold, nothing you could not buy in a market town.
He came out smiling and speaking his welcome, saying, "Your two reverences, I make you my bow."
相 in 相迎 is xiāng, the mutual adverb: to come out and meet one another. 作揖了 — the 了 marks the thing as done, so the bow is made in the announcing of it, rather as one says my compliments while already bowing.
Sanzang returned the courtesy; the Pilgrim stood and did not stir. Seeing how fierce and ugly his face was, the old man did not dare bow to him at all.
Three characters want care here. 還了禮 takes 還 as huán, to return a courtesy, not hái, still. 站著 is zhe, a state kept up: standing there. And 相貌 takes 相 as xiàng, appearance — the very same character that was xiāng one line ago. One character, two readings, a sentence apart.
The Pilgrim said, "Why do you not salute old Sun?" The old fellow, somewhat frightened, said to Gao Cai,
唱喏 is a bow made together with a spoken greeting; you say the word as you dip. 喏 is rě, the reading this site holds to. 那老兒 takes the softening 兒, er. And the Pilgrim is demanding a courtesy he has this moment refused to pay.
"You young rascal, would you be the death of me? There is an ugly-headed, monstrous-faced son-in-law in the house already that I cannot get rid of;
小廝 is a young servant, a lad. 弄殺我也 is will you be the death of me. 打發不開: cannot be sent packing, cannot be settled with — the verb is the one for paying off a debt or dismissing a servant, and neither works on this son-in-law.
why must you bring me this thunder-god to plague me too?"
雷公, the thunder-god, is the standard comparison for Sun Wukong's face throughout the novel: beaked, hairy, glaring. Keep it in mind. The same comparison will be made at the very end of this chapter, and by the monster.
The passage is built on two refusals to bow. Sanzang returns the old man's salutation; the Pilgrim does not, and then complains of not receiving one. The narrator marks the order exactly — 三藏還了禮，行者站著不動 — and leaves the reader to work out that the very face now demanding a bow is the thing that stopped Squire Gao giving one.
The clothes list matters. Squire Gao has changed into Sichuan brocade to greet a pair of exorcists; Gao Cai went out into the street in a cotton headcloth and tied trousers. The household's money is real and its dignity is fragile, and a monster in the back court is exactly the sort of thing you cannot dress for. When the old man cries 怎麼又引這個雷公來害我, why bring me this thunder-god to plague me too, he is not complaining of danger. He is complaining of a second face he could not seat at his table.