The two of them, hand in hand and laughing together, turned back to see the Tang Monk.

攙著手, 'arm in arm' (著 zhe). One page ago Bajie was hopping with rage. Now the two of them walk back linked and laughing. They quarrel like this constantly and it never survives a scene change.

The Tang Monk asked: 'Did you manage to catch the monster?'

可曾捉得, 'did you manage to catch it?' — with 得 as de, marking whether or not you could. It is the master's first question and, given what he has just watched from the high bank, an optimistic one.

The Pilgrim said: 'That monster couldn't stand the fight — he fell back and bored down into the water.'

不奈戰, 'couldn't stand the fight' — a fine piece of spin, considering whose cudgel did the frightening. (奈 is nài; before a falling tone like that, 不 lifts to bú.) 鑽入水去 restates the deadlock: he has gone where nobody can follow.

Sanzang said: 'Disciples, this creature has long dwelt here and knows its shallows and depths. With Weak Water as boundless as this, and no boat or oar to be had,

And here, unexpectedly, the least capable member of the party out-thinks the other two. 他知道淺深, 'he knows the shallows and the deeps': the thing blocking the river is also the only creature alive who knows how to get across it. 似這般 … 弱水, 'Weak Water like this' (似 is sì), and not an oar to be had either. In one sentence Sanzang has turned the obstacle into the solution.

'we simply must get someone who knows the water to lead us across before all will be well.'

得個知水性的引領 — 'get hold of somebody who knows the water, to lead us.' Here 得 is the plain main verb, de, 'to get.' The doubled 引領引領 ('guide us, just guide us a bit') is ordinary spoken softening, the way English doubles a word to make a request smaller.

The Pilgrim said: 'Just so. As the old saying goes, "Near cinnabar one turns red; near ink one turns black."'

近硃者赤，近墨者黑 — 'stay near cinnabar and you turn red; stay near ink and you turn black.' Chinese schoolchildren still learn this one, and it is the ancestor of the modern line about becoming the average of the company you keep. The monkey puts it to unusual work here: not about morals but about expertise. Live in a river long enough and you cannot help knowing it. Because the saying arrives with 常言道 ('as the old saying goes') rather than a verse tag, it is set as prose.

'This monster, living here, must surely know the water. Let us seize him now — but not beat him to death; only make him ferry the master across, and then we'll settle the rest.'

只教他送師父過河, 'just make him ferry the master over' — with 教 as jiào, the causative 'have somebody do.' The order is capture, not kill, and it is the first quiet signal that this demon is not meant to be destroyed. Everything the chapter does from here follows from that one decision.

Bajie said: 'Elder brother, no need to dither — you go and take him first, and let old Hog stand guard over the master.'

不必遲疑, 'no need to dither.' Then Bajie, still sore from the last scene, hands the water-fight over with unusual grace: 讓你先去拿他, you go first. He is about to get an answer he was not expecting.

The Pilgrim said with a laugh: 'Worthy brother, this is one thing I dare not boast of — old Sun isn't too greatly skilled in doings under the water.'

不敢說嘴, 'I dare not brag' — four characters that almost never come out of this mouth. 水裡勾當, 'business in the water,' is the one department where 不大十分熟, he is 'not too very expert.' Count the hedges stacked in that phrase: even the confession is reluctant.

'If I go simply through it, I must still make the finger-signs and keep muttering a water-repelling spell before I can move at all;

捻訣 is twisting the fingers into a magical sign; 避水咒 is a water-repelling spell (還 here is hái, 'on top of that'). He can go under, but only by conjuring continuously the whole time — the difference between a diver on borrowed air and a fish. 走得, 'able to move' (得 de).

'otherwise I must change myself into some fish or shrimp, crab or turtle, and only then can I go.'

變化做甚麼魚蝦蟹鱉之類, 'turn into some sort of fish, shrimp, crab or turtle' (甚麼 here is shénme, 'some or other'; 得 de). The alternative works perfectly well. It also means arriving as a shrimp, which is no way to swing a cudgel.

'If it's a matter of matching skills — up on high mountains, among the clouds, whatever strange and cunning feats you like —

賭手段, 'to stake skill against skill.' 蹊蹺異樣事兒 is 'strange, crooked, out-of-the-way business' (甚麼 shénme). On mountains, in cloud, at any oddity you care to name, he is unbeatable. The whole clause exists to set up the exception.

'old Sun can do it all; it's only this business in the water that gives me some trouble.'

都會, 'can do the lot' (都 dōu) — and then 水裡的買賣, literally 'the water trade,' the blunt commercial figure the vernacular reaches for when it means any line of work. 榔杭 is a dialect word for awkward, sticky, hard to handle. Old Sun finds it a bit awkward. The job passes to Bajie.