行李馬匹 The Baggage and the Horse
行者笑道：「獃子，你和誰說哩？」八戒道：「哥哥，與你說哩。」行者道：「錯和我說了。老孫只管師父好歹，你與沙僧專管行李、馬匹。但若怠慢了些兒，孤拐上先是一頓粗棍。」八戒道：「哥啊，不要說打，打就是以力欺人。我曉得你的尊性高傲，你是定不肯挑。但師父騎的馬，那般高大肥盛，只馱著老和尚一個，教他帶幾件兒，也是弟兄之情。」行者笑道：「呆子，你和谁说哩？」八戒道：「哥哥，与你说哩。」行者道：「错和我说了。老孙只管师父好歹，你与沙僧专管行李、马匹。但若怠慢了些儿，孤拐上先是一顿粗棍。」八戒道：「哥啊，不要说打，打就是以力欺人。我晓得你的尊性高傲，你是定不肯挑。但师父骑的马，那般高大肥盛，只驮着老和尚一个，教他带几件儿，也是弟兄之情。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim laughed and said, "Idiot — who are you talking to?"
Wukong ducks the complaint by pretending not to know who it is aimed at. 和誰說, who are you talking to?
Zhu Bajie said, "To you, brother."
Four words, straight back. The comic timing here is all in the shortness.
Pilgrim said, "Then you have the wrong man.
錯和我說了, you have said it to the wrong man — take your grievance to the right department.
Old Monkey attends only to the master's welfare; you and Sha are in sole charge of the baggage and the horse.
Wukong lays down a division of labour that suits him very well. 只管 and 專管 both mean to have sole charge of a thing; 好歹, good-or-bad, here means the master's safety and wellbeing.
And should you slack even a little, it's a round of the stout cudgel across your shins to start with!"
怠慢 is to slack off; 孤拐 is the everyday word for the ankle-bone or shin, which is exactly where the threatened blow lands. In 一頓粗棍, one round with the thick staff, the 一 is yí before a falling tone.
Zhu Bajie said, "Brother, don't talk of beatings — to beat is simply to bully by brute force.
不要 takes 不 as bú before the falling tone of 要. 以力欺人 is to push people around by sheer strength — a fair enough principle, from a disciple looking for a way out of carrying the bags.
I know your lordly temper is proud — you'll surely not stoop to carry it.
曉得, to know, takes the structural 得 (de). 尊性高傲 is "your honoured nature is haughty," which is flattery and insult in the same four characters; 定不肯挑, you certainly will not stoop to shoulder it.
But the master's mount — so tall and stout and sleek — carries only the one old monk; to have it bear a few pieces would be no more than brotherly feeling."
Here 那 is nà in its degree sense, so, such — set it beside the question-word nǎ from a few lines back, same character and a different job. 馱著 takes the running 著 (zhe), and 教他帶 uses 教 (jiào) to mean have it carry, not teach it anything.
The quarrel settles into pure character comedy. Wukong pretends not to know who is being addressed, then rules on the matter — he minds the master, Bajie and Sha mind the gear — and finishes with the promise of a cudgel across the shins. Bajie's reply, that hitting people is only bullying by force, is a protest and a dodge at once.
Beaten on the labour question, Bajie opens a second front: the horse carries nothing but one thin old monk, so why not load it up? The move is vintage Bajie, shirking dressed as fairness, and the phrase he dresses it in — 弟兄之情, brotherly feeling — is doing a great deal of work. It also hands Wukong his cue.
The scene sets two readings of 那 side by side, which is worth catching: the question-word nǎ of the lodging argument gives way to the pointing nà of 那般, so, such. And 教他帶 turns on the causative 教 (jiào). Bajie's passing remark about the horse's fine bulk is what opens the door to the dragon-steed's story.