次早再議 Next Morning's Plan
次早，三藏道：「悟空，今日怎生區處？」行者道：「沒甚區處，還須八戒下水。」八戒道：「哥哥，你要圖乾淨，只作成我下水。」行者道：「賢弟，這番我再不急性了，只讓你引他上來，我攔住河沿，不讓他回去，務要將他擒了。」次早，三藏道：「悟空，今日怎生区处？」行者道：「没甚区处，还须八戒下水。」八戒道：「哥哥，你要图干净，只作成我下水。」行者道：「贤弟，这番我再不急性了，只让你引他上来，我拦住河沿，不让他回去，务要将他擒了。」
逐句解 Line by line
Early next morning Sanzang said: 'Wukong, how are we to manage today?' The Pilgrim said:
怎生區處, 'however are we to dispose of this?' — 區處 is an administrative word, the verb for sorting out a piece of business. The master wakes up and asks for a plan.
'There's no particular plan — Bajie must go down into the water again.' Bajie said:
沒甚區處, 'no plan to speak of' — here 甚 is shén, standing for 什麼, 'any at all.' It is an unusually honest answer. 還須八戒下水, 'Bajie still has to go down' (還 hái): the same imperfect plan, because there is no other.
'Elder brother, you just want to keep yourself clean, and put all the water-work off on me.' The Pilgrim said:
圖乾淨, 'angling for the clean job' — 乾 is gān here, 'dry,' as in 乾淨, and not qián, the heaven-trigram. Bajie has spotted that his brother has arranged to stay on dry land while he does the wet, dangerous part, and he is not wrong.
'Worthy brother, this time I won't be so hasty — I'll just let you draw him up,
再不急性了, 'I won't be hasty again.' The monkey names his own fault out loud and promises to fix it, which is rare enough to be worth marking. Whether a promise is enough is the question the next few scenes exist to answer.
'and I'll block the riverbank so he can't get back — we must be sure to take him.'
攔住河沿, 'bar the river's edge' — he adopts Bajie's own correction from the previous day: cut off the retreat first, then swing. 務要將他擒了, 'we must be sure to take him' (將 jiāng, the syllable that puts the object first).
Morning brings no new plan, only a resolution to work the old one properly. The monkey concedes that Bajie must go back into the water, and Bajie grumbles — with justice — that his brother wants the dry job. It is domestic comedy, but it registers how boxed in they are: with the demon unreachable in the flood, one flawed stratagem is the whole arsenal.
What is new is the promise. Twice now the monkey's impatience has driven the demon under at the moment of capture, and here he says so in plain words — 再不急性了, 'no more haste' — and adopts Bajie's sensible fix of blocking the bank first. By its own logic the third attempt ought to work. That it fails anyway, for a reason no amount of resolve could mend, is what finally turns the chapter toward Guanyin.