原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
回末結煞 Chapter Close
畢竟不知那獃子凶吉如何，且聽下回分解。毕竟不知那呆子凶吉如何，且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
畢竟不知那獃子凶吉如何，且聽下回分解。
毕竟不知那呆子凶吉如何，且听下回分解。
After all, there is no knowing whether the blockhead's fortune was ill or fair — pray hear it told in the next chapter.
畢竟不知, in the end one does not know, with 那 as nà and 子 as the light suffix zi; 凶吉如何, whether ill or auspicious. 且聽下回分解, pray hear it explained in the next chapter, takes 分 as fēn. This is the oldest device in the book — the storyteller stopping in a marketplace at the point of maximum suspense, when a hat is about to go round.
The chapter ends on the storyteller's customary hook. Bajie has been found trussed in the grove and his fate is left hanging — ill or fair, the teller will not yet say. The formula suspends the thread and invites the listener onward, closing the 四聖試禪心 episode on comic suspense and saving the rescue, and the chastening, for the next telling.