耳內取針 The Needle and the Rod
老兒十分歡喜，才教展抹桌椅，擺列齋供。齋罷將晚，老兒問道：「要甚兵器？要多少人隨？趁早好備。」行者道：「兵器我自有。」老兒道：「二位只是那根錫杖，錫杖怎麼打得那個妖精？」行者隨於耳內取出一個繡花針來，捻在手中，迎風幌了一幌，就是碗來粗細的一根金箍鐵棒，對著高老道：「你看這條棍子，比你家兵器如何？可打得這怪否？」高老又道：「既有兵器，可要人跟？」行者道：「我不用人，只是要幾個年高有德的老兒，陪我師父清坐閑敘，我好撇他而去。等我把那妖精拿來，對眾取供，替你除了根罷。」那老兒即喚家僮，請了幾個親故朋友。一時都到，相見已畢，行者道：「師父，你放心穩坐，老孫去也。」老儿十分欢喜，才教展抹桌椅，摆列斋供。斋罢将晚，老儿问道：「要甚兵器？要多少人随？趁早好备。」行者道：「兵器我自有。」老儿道：「二位只是那根锡杖，锡杖怎么打得那个妖精？」行者随于耳内取出一个绣花针来，捻在手中，迎风幌了一幌，就是碗来粗细的一根金箍铁棒，对著高老道：「你看这条棍子，比你家兵器如何？可打得这怪否？」高老又道：「既有兵器，可要人跟？」行者道：「我不用人，只是要几个年高有德的老儿，陪我师父清坐闲叙，我好撇他而去。等我把那妖精拿来，对众取供，替你除了根罢。」那老儿即唤家僮，请了几个亲故朋友。一时都到，相见已毕，行者道：「师父，你放心稳坐，老孙去也。」
逐句解 Line by line
The old man was greatly pleased, and only then had the tables and chairs wiped down and a vegetarian meal laid out.
展抹, to spread and wipe. 齋供 takes 供 as gòng. Note 才: only after the promise of extermination does the meal appear.
The meal done and evening drawing on, the old man asked, "What weapons will you want? How many men to attend you? Let them be got ready in good time."
將晚: adverbial jiāng. 要甚兵器 — 甚 is shén, interrogative "what," not the intensifier shèn; pypinyin defaults wrongly. 趁早, betimes.
The Pilgrim said, "I have my own weapon." The old man said, "Your reverences have nothing but that staff. How shall a staff beat such a monster?"
錫杖, the ringed monk's staff, is Sanzang's and not a weapon at all. 打得 here is potential — 得 as dé. The old man has seen only the pilgrim's luggage, and reasons from it.
The Pilgrim thereupon drew from his ear an embroidery needle, pinched it between his fingers, waved it once in the wind,
繡花針: the needle-form of the rod, kept in the ear since chapter three. 捻, to pinch and roll between the fingers; 幌, to shake once — the reduplicated 幌了一幌 is the standard vernacular formula.
and there it was — an iron rod with a golden fillet, thick as a bowl. He held it out toward Old Gao and said,
碗來粗細, "of a thickness one might call a bowl's." 金箍鐵棒 — the iron rod with the golden hoops, whose weight is thirteen thousand five hundred catties. 對著 keeps 著 as zhe.
"Look at this cudgel. How does it compare with the weapons of your house? Will it beat this fiend or no?"
比你家兵器如何 is not a question but a taunt; the household's weapons are hoes. 可打得這怪否: potential dé again, and the classical 否 for a yes-or-no.
Old Gao said further, "You have a weapon, then. Will you want men to go with you?"
可要人跟 — the squire is still thinking in terms of a posse. He has hired three exorcists and none of them worked alone.
The Pilgrim said, "I want no men. I want only a few old fellows of years and standing,
年高有德: of great age and settled virtue. The Pilgrim wants witnesses and a nursemaid, and says so in the language of respect.
to sit at their ease with my master and keep him in talk, so that I may leave him and go.
清坐閑敘, to sit quietly and talk of nothing. 我好撇他而去: 好 is the purposive hǎo, "so that I may." 撇, to fling aside — the verb is franker than the sentiment.
Wait till I have brought that monster back, taken his confession before the company, and pulled him up by the root for you."
對眾取供: to take a deposition before the assembled company; 供 is gòng, a confession, not gōng. The Pilgrim proposes a trial, and Gao has already asked for an execution.
The old man at once called his houseboy and invited a few kinsmen and friends.
家僮, a household boy. 親故朋友 — the very kin whose estrangement the squire lamented a page ago now come at a word.
In a little while all had come, and when the greetings were over the Pilgrim said, "Master, sit easy and set your mind at rest. Old Sun is off."
一時都到: 都 is dōu. 相見已畢 takes 相 as xiāng. 放心穩坐, "sit firm and easy" — advice Sanzang will spectacularly fail to take in the next chapter.
The producing of the rod is one of the novel's set turns, and the narrator performs it with practised economy: ear, needle, pinch, one wave in the wind, and a bowl-thick iron cudgel. Squire Gao, who has been reasoning soundly from the evidence — two monks, one staff, no arms — is confuted without argument. The Pilgrim then asks him how it compares with the weapons of the house.
What he asks for instead of men is worth noting. A few old neighbours, to sit and talk with Sanzang: a guard for his master disguised as a jury for the monster. 對眾取供 promises a hearing. But the same sentence ends 替你除了根罷, taking up the squire's own figure, and the Pilgrim leaves without deciding which of the two he means to do.