這個功勞算你的 This Merit Is Reckoned Yours
那獃子一腳屣住他的脊背，兩手掄鈀又築。行者見了，大喜道：「兄弟，正是這等。他領了幾十個小妖，敢與老孫賭鬥，被我打敗了，他轉不往洞跑，卻跑來這裡尋死。虧你接著，不然又走了。」八戒道：「弄風攝師父去的可是他？」行者道：「正是，正是。」八戒道：「你可曾問他師父的下落麼？」行者道：「這怪把師父拿在洞裡，要與他甚麼鳥大王做下飯。老孫惱了，就與他鬥將這裡來，卻被你送了性命。兄弟啊，這個功勞算你的。你可還守著馬與行李，等我把這死怪拖了去，再到那洞口索戰。須是拿得那老妖，方才救得師父。」八戒道：「哥哥說得有理。你去，你去。若是打敗了這老妖，還趕將這裡來，等老豬截住殺他。」那呆子一脚屣住他的脊背，两手抡钯又筑。行者见了，大喜道：「兄弟，正是这等。他领了几十个小妖，敢与老孙赌斗，被我打败了，他转不往洞跑，却跑来这里寻死。亏你接著，不然又走了。」八戒道：「弄风摄师父去的可是他？」行者道：「正是，正是。」八戒道：「你可曾问他师父的下落么？」行者道：「这怪把师父拿在洞里，要与他甚么鸟大王做下饭。老孙恼了，就与他斗将这里来，却被你送了性命。兄弟啊，这个功劳算你的。你可还守著马与行李，等我把这死怪拖了去，再到那洞口索战。须是拿得那老妖，方才救得师父。」八戒道：「哥哥说得有理。你去，你去。若是打败了这老妖，还赶将这里来，等老猪截住杀他。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Idiot set one foot on his backbone and, gripping the rake in both hands, struck him again.
一腳屣住他的脊背: 屣 is xǐ, to tread on as with a slipper, as at 屣平了你住處 earlier in the chapter; 脊 is jǐ. Bajie strikes a dead fiend a second time, with his foot on its spine.
The Pilgrim saw it and was greatly delighted. "Brother, that is just the way of it.
正是這等, "that is just the way of it." The Pilgrim's approval arrives one blow too late to be needed.
He led out some scores of little fiends and dared give battle to Old Monkey, and I beat him;
敢與老孫賭鬥 — the boast is at second hand, and the sentence is about who beat whom.
and instead of running back into the cave he ran up here to look for his death. It is thanks to you that you caught him; otherwise he would have got clean away."
虧你接著: 著 is zháo, the resultative — you got him. A verb of interception with the goal attained, on the pattern of 撞著 and 見著 elsewhere in this chapter.
Bajie said, "Was it he who raised the wind and carried our master off?"
弄風攝師父, to work a wind and snatch the master away. Bajie asks the one question that matters, and has to ask it.
The Pilgrim said, "It was; it was." Bajie said, "And did you ask him what became of our master?"
下落, "whereabouts." The Pilgrim did not ask; he fought.
The Pilgrim said, "This fiend has our master in the cave, to make a dish of meat for some cursed king of theirs.
甚麼鳥大王 is contemptuous — "some bird of a king," and the graph 鳥 in this construction is an abusive expletive in Yuan-Ming vernacular. 做下飯, a dish to go with rice, keeps the kitchen register that has governed every demon's speech in this chapter.
Old Monkey lost his temper and fought him all the way up here — and it is you who have taken his life.
鬥將這裡來 takes the directional 將, jiāng. 卻被你送了性命 — "and it was you who despatched him." He says it plainly.
Brother, this merit is reckoned yours.
這個功勞算你的. Ten graphs, and the Great Sage, who has never in twenty chapters conceded anything to anyone, hands the credit to the pig without being asked.
Do you go on keeping the horse and the luggage; and let me drag this dead fiend off, and go again to the cave door and give them challenge.
索戰, to demand battle. And Bajie is sent back to the horse and the luggage, as before.
We must take the old fiend himself, and only so can our master be saved."
拿得 and 救得 are both attainment constructions and both take 得 as dé. The strategy is unchanged from before the first fight; the chapter will close before it is tested.
Bajie said, "There is reason in what my brother says. Go, then, go.
說得有理 takes the neutral de. Bajie agrees, and then amends the plan.
If you beat this old fiend, drive him back up this way, and let Old Hog cut him off and kill him."
He amends it in his own favor: 還趕將這裡來，等老豬截住殺他 — drive him up here again, and Old Hog will cut him off and kill him. Having been given the merit once, he arranges to be given it twice.
Two hundred and twenty-nine graphs of conversation over a corpse, and the whole of it is about credit. The Pilgrim explains, at some length, that he beat the fiend and drove him up the hill; Bajie asks whether this was the one who took their master, and whether his brother thought to ask where the master is. He had not. He had fought. And then, without prompting, Sun Wukong says the sentence he has never said to anyone: 這個功勞算你的, this merit is reckoned yours.
Bajie takes it, and immediately proposes the same arrangement a second time — you drive him up, I will cut him off. It is not modest and it is not meant to be. He has now been the one who charged the tiger, the one who wept for the master, and the one who killed the demon, while the Great Sage caught wind in his fist and beat a skin on a rock. The chapter's title says 八戒爭先: Bajie strives for the lead. He has taken it.