討工錢 辭丈人 Bajie Settles His Accounts
八戒在傍邊道：「師父、師兄，你們不要便罷，我與他家做了這幾年女婿，就是掛腳糧也該三石哩。──丈人啊，我的直裰，昨晚被師兄扯破了，與我一件青錦袈裟；鞋子綻了，與我一雙好新鞋子。」高老聞言，不敢不與，隨買一雙新鞋，將一領褊衫，換下舊時衣物。那八戒搖搖擺擺，對高老唱個喏道：「上覆丈母、大姨、二姨並姨夫、姑舅諸親：我今日去做和尚了，不及面辭，休怪。丈人啊，你還好生看待我渾家，只怕我們取不成經時，好來還俗，照舊與你做女婿過活。」行者喝道：「夯貨，卻莫胡說。」八戒道：「不是胡說，只恐一時間有些兒差池，卻不是和尚誤了做，老婆誤了娶，兩下裡都耽擱了？」八戒在傍边道：「师父、师兄，你们不要便罢，我与他家做了这几年女婿，就是挂脚粮也该三石哩。──丈人啊，我的直裰，昨晚被师兄扯破了，与我一件青锦袈裟；鞋子绽了，与我一双好新鞋子。」高老闻言，不敢不与，随买一双新鞋，将一领褊衫，换下旧时衣物。那八戒摇摇摆摆，对高老唱个喏道：「上覆丈母、大姨、二姨并姨夫、姑舅诸亲：我今日去做和尚了，不及面辞，休怪。丈人啊，你还好生看待我浑家，只怕我们取不成经时，好来还俗，照旧与你做女婿过活。」行者喝道：「夯货，却莫胡说。」八戒道：「不是胡说，只恐一时间有些儿差池，却不是和尚误了做，老婆误了娶，两下里都耽搁了？」
逐句解 Line by line
Bajie said from the side: "Master, elder brother — it is all very well for you to refuse,
傍邊 writes 旁邊, so 傍 is páng. He waits until the refusals are finished, and then puts in a claim.
but I have been a son-in-law in this house these several years, and the wages of my keep alone should come to three piculs.
掛腳糧, "hanging-foot grain" — the keep due to a live-in hand. 三石: 石 is the dry measure, read dàn — some three hundred litres of grain. The claim is not extortionate; it is a farmhand's reckoning of wages owed.
— Father-in-law! My cassock was torn by my brother last night; give me a robe of blue brocade.
The em-dash marks a swerve in mid-speech: he has been arguing with his master and turns, without pause, to his father-in-law. 直裰, a monk's straight-seamed gown.
My shoes are burst; give me a good new pair."
綻, to split open at the seam. Having renounced the world, he asks for new shoes. The two demands are a single gesture, and Squire Gao, who has just been told his money is a bribe, pays them at once.
Old Gao, hearing him, did not dare refuse. He bought a pair of new shoes and an over-robe, and Bajie changed out of his old clothes.
不敢不與, "did not dare not to give." The double negative is exact: Old Gao has understood at last that he is dealing with people who cannot be refused.
Then Bajie went swaggering up to old Gao and made him a bow. "Convey my respects to my mother-in-law, to my elder and younger aunts, to my uncles by marriage, and to all my kin on either side.
搖搖擺擺, swaggering. 唱個喏 takes 喏 as rě. 上覆, to convey respects — and then the list, which is the point: he names the whole affinal kindred, one by one.
Today I go to be a monk. Forgive me that I cannot take my leave in person.
不及面辭, no time to take leave face to face. He speaks like a son-in-law departing on business.
Father-in-law, mind you take good care of my woman,
渾家, "my woman" — the plain vernacular for a wife. Two paragraphs after being forbidden the word 拙荊, he has found another.
for if we fail to fetch the scriptures I may well come back and return to the world, and be your son-in-law again as before."
And the sting: 好來還俗 — 還 here is huán, to return; 還俗 is to leave the order and go back to lay life. He has taken the precepts, been given two names, and is already negotiating the terms of his release.
The Pilgrim shouted at him: "Lout! Do not talk nonsense."
夯貨, "lout" — Wukong returns the insult he used at the cave door.
Bajie said: "It is not nonsense. I only fear that if something should go amiss along the way,
差池 takes 差 as chā: a slip, a discrepancy, something going wrong. 一時間, at some moment.
would it not be that the monk was botched and the wife was lost, and both sides left hanging?"
The clinching argument, and it is a good one: 和尚誤了做，老婆誤了娶 — the monk botched, the wife forgone, and 兩下裡都耽擱了, both sides left hanging. 都 is dōu. Bajie is the only person in this chapter who has calculated the cost of the pilgrimage in advance.
Where Sanzang refused two hundred taels and Wukong pocketed a handful, Bajie submits an invoice. He has worked the farm for years; the keep of a hired hand comes to three piculs of grain; his gown is torn and his shoes have burst. The reckoning is a farmhand's, exact and unembarrassed, and Squire Gao — who has just been told that a thread's worth of gift would cost a thousand kalpas — does not dare refuse.
Then the farewell, which is the finest thing in the chapter. He salutes the whole affinal kindred by name, asks his father-in-law to look after his wife, and observes that if the scripture-fetching does not come off he may well 還俗, leave the order, and resume his place as son-in-law. Wukong calls it nonsense. It is not nonsense: 和尚誤了做，老婆誤了娶，兩下裡都耽擱了 — the monk botched, the wife forgone, both sides left hanging. Bajie has been a monk for one afternoon and is the only member of the party who has counted what the journey might cost.