When he had finished, old Gao came forward and knelt down. "Elder, there is no help for it.

沒及奈何, "there is nothing to be done": the phrase every petitioner in this novel opens with, and it is always followed by a request. 長老, Elder, takes 長 as zhǎng.

You may have driven him off, but he will come back once you are gone, and what is to be done then?

趕得去 is the can-do construction, 得 read dé: able to drive him off. Old Gao's worry is the sensible one — a monster driven away is a monster who knows the way back. 卻怎區處: 區處 is to dispose of a matter, with 處 read chǔ.

Trouble yourself, I beg, to take him for me and pull him up by the root, and then there will be no aftermath.

索性 is "go the whole way while you are at it." 除了根, dig out the root, sets up the 剪草除根 three lines later. Squire Gao has exactly one metaphor and he gets two uses out of it.

This old man will not be slow to thank you; I shall reward you handsomely.

Note that the offer of payment arrives before the amount. That is not an accident of style; it is how the man bargains. 重謝 takes 重 as zhòng, heavy.

This house and its lands — I will have all our kin and friends draw up a deed, and split them with you, Elder, share and share alike.

And here is the amount, and it is startling: half the estate, house and land, with a deed drawn up and witnessed by the assembled clan. He is not offering a fee. He is offering a partnership, in writing, to a monkey he met yesterday. 將 is the disposal marker jiāng.

Only cut the grass and dig out the root, and do not let my house's good name be spoiled."

剪草除根 — cut the grass and dig out the root — is proverbial for wiping something out so thoroughly it cannot grow back; English says "root and branch" and means the same. Then the real concern, saved for last: 高門清德, the unspotted reputation of a great house.

The Pilgrim laughed. "Old man, you do not know your own measure.

不知分限, not knowing your own limits — where your bounds are and what is yours to ask for. 老兒 takes 兒 as the little suffix er, and it is faintly cheeky: "old fellow," from a monkey to a squire.

That fiend told me himself that although his belly is large, and he has eaten some of your family's tea and rice,

食腸大, a large gullet. The standing joke about Bajie for the next eighty chapters gets made here for the first time, by his enemy, in his defence. 那怪 — Wukong is still calling him "that fiend" while arguing his case.

he has also done a great deal of good work for you; the wealth you have made these several years is all by his strength.

家貲 is household wealth, the accumulated stuff of a family. 掙 is zhèng, to earn by hard labour. 力量 takes 量 as liàng. The argument is an audit: he ate a great deal, and he also built the balance sheet.

He has not eaten your food for nothing. Why do you ask me to drive him away?

白吃, to eat for nothing — still the everyday word for a freeloader. 祛他 is to exorcise him, and Wukong picks up the squire's own word and hands it back sounding ungrateful.

By his own account he is a god from Heaven come down, who does the farm-work in your stead, and he has never harmed your daughter.

巴家做活 is to graft away at building up a household. Then the fact that decides the whole case: 未曾害了你家女兒, he has never harmed your daughter. The novel will never once contradict it.

Such a son-in-law is a fair match for your house.

門當戶對 — matched gate, matched door — is the standard phrase for two families being of the same social standing, and it is still what a Chinese parent says when sizing up a match. Applied to a hog-demon it is outrageous. Wukong says it without smiling.

He has not spoiled your reputation, nor disgraced your conduct; truly, you might as well keep him."

當真的, "in earnest," takes 當 as dàng. Note what the speech has actually argued: that the monster is a better son-in-law than this family deserves. It is played for comedy, and it is not entirely a joke.

Old Gao said: "Elder, though he does no harm to public morals, the name of the thing is ugly to hear.

傷風化, to injure public morals, comes out of the magistrate's vocabulary. Old Gao concedes the substance and digs in on the reputation, which tells you where he lives. 不甚好聽 takes 甚 as shèn.

At the least occasion people will say, 'The Gao family has taken in a monster for a son-in-law.' How is one to bear such talk?"

動不動 is "at the drop of a hat." 著人就說 takes 著 as the causative zhuó, to get people saying — the second of the character's three readings in this chapter. The gossip quoted inside 『』 is a quoted scrap of speech and stays prose.

Sanzang said: "Wukong, since you have had one bout with him, have done and make an end, so that the thing is finished as it was begun."

做了一場, to have had a bout. 一發 is "you may as well go on and —." 才見始終: only then is a thing seen through from start to finish. Sanzang settles the matter on grounds of form, as he generally does, having taken no view whatever on the merits.

The Pilgrim said: "I was only trying him, for sport. This time I shall fetch him back for you to see. Do not fret."

試他一試耍子: gave him a try, for fun. 耍子 takes the suffix 子 as zi. Wukong has just reclassified an all-night battle as a game, retroactively, and nobody in the room contradicts him.

And he called: "Old Gao, look well after my master, and I am off."

好生管待, look after him properly. 還 is the adverb hái. The grammar is worth noticing: this is an instruction issued to the master of the house, not a request made of him.