插秧而回 Home from the Rice-Planting
那老者正在門前與三個和尚相講，只見那莊南邊有兩個少年人，帶著一個老媽媽、三四個小男女，斂衣赤腳，插秧而回。他看見一匹白馬、一擔行李，都在他家門首喧嘩，不知是甚來歷，都一擁上前問道：「做甚麼的？」八戒調過頭來，把耳朵擺了幾擺，長嘴伸了一伸，嚇得那些人東倒西歪，亂蹡亂跌。慌得那三藏滿口招呼道：「莫怕，莫怕。我們不是歹人，我們是取經的和尚。」那老兒才出了門，攙著媽媽道：「婆婆起來，少要驚恐。這師父是唐朝來的，只是他徒弟臉嘴醜些，卻也面惡人善。帶男女們家去。」那媽媽才扯著老兒，二少年領著兒女進去。那老者正在门前与三个和尚相讲，只见那庄南边有两个少年人，带著一个老妈妈、三四个小男女，敛衣赤脚，插秧而回。他看见一匹白马、一担行李，都在他家门首喧哗，不知是甚来历，都一拥上前问道：「做甚么的？」八戒调过头来，把耳朵摆了几摆，长嘴伸了一伸，吓得那些人东倒西歪，乱蹡乱跌。慌得那三藏满口招呼道：「莫怕，莫怕。我们不是歹人，我们是取经的和尚。」那老儿才出了门，搀著妈妈道：「婆婆起来，少要惊恐。这师父是唐朝来的，只是他徒弟脸嘴丑些，却也面恶人善。带男女们家去。」那妈妈才扯著老儿，二少年领著儿女进去。
逐句解 Line by line
The old man was still talking with the three monks before his gate when, from the south side of the farm, two young men appeared,
相講 takes 相 as xiāng, the reciprocal — the two graphs of the segment, 相講 and 相貌 in the passage before, hold the two readings apart. 少年人 takes shào.
bringing with them an old dame and three or four small boys and girls, their skirts hitched up and their feet bare, come back from the setting-out of the rice.
斂衣赤腳，插秧而回 — four graphs of clothing hitched, four of bare feet and rice-shoots. The novel almost never looks at agricultural labor; when it does, as here, it does so with an exactness that has nothing to do with the plot.
Seeing a white horse and a pole of luggage, and all this clamor at their own doorway,
一擔行李: 擔 is the noun, dàn, "a pole-load," and because the fixspec raises its tone from dān to dàn, the preceding 一 must be given as yí — the sandhi-override rule, whose only instance in this chapter so far is here. 喧嘩 takes 嘩 as huá.
and not knowing what to make of it, they crowded forward in a body and demanded, "What are you about?"
是甚來歷 and 做甚麼的 both take the interrogative 甚, shén. 一擁上前, to surge forward in a mass.
Bajie turned his head about, waggled his ears a few times, and thrust out his long snout,
長嘴 is cháng zuǐ, the long snout, not zhǎng; pypinyin defaults wrongly. 調過頭來 takes diào, "to turn about." Bajie is showing off, and knows exactly what he is doing.
so that the people reeled east and staggered west, tripping and sprawling every way. Sanzang, alarmed, called out with all his mouth, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid.
嚇得 and 慌得 are parallel resultatives, both 得 as de. 東倒西歪 takes 倒 as dǎo, "to fall." 亂蹡亂跌: 蹡, qiāng, to stagger.
We are no bad men. We are monks going to fetch the scriptures."
滿口招呼, "to call out with a full mouth" — the Tang Monk, who has been silent throughout, finds his voice only when the peasants are on the ground.
Only then did the old man come out of the house, and he raised his wife by the arm. "Get up, goodwife. There is little here to be alarmed at.
少要驚恐: 少 is shǎo, "little, scarcely," the vernacular prohibitive. 攙著 takes zhe.
This master comes from the Court of Tang. It is only that his disciples' faces are somewhat ill-favored; and a hard face may hide a kind heart. Take the children indoors."
面惡人善, "the face ill, the man good," is a proverb, and it repeats in four graphs what Bajie argued at length a paragraph earlier. Squire Wang comes to the conclusion by himself; the reader is meant to notice that he is the only person in the chapter who does.
So the old dame took her husband by the arm, and the two young men led the children in.
兒 appears twice here in two readings: 老兒 takes the suffix er, 兒女 the lexical ér. A positional fixspec is required. 領著 takes zhe.
Nine peasants — two sons, a wife, three or four children — walk in from the paddy with their skirts tied up, and the novel gives them a sentence of real observation before Bajie waggles his ears and knocks them all down. It is a small scene, and the only one in the chapter that looks outward from the road; every other setting is an interior or a mountain.
Squire Wang, who was terrified of Bajie ten lines ago, now lifts his wife off the ground and tells her that a hard face may hide a kind heart. The conversion is instantaneous and unexplained, and it makes him the chapter's one instance of a person who learns something. He will be repaid for it in the next passage by having his entire dinner eaten.