撞婚議配 Which Daughter?
咦！滿堂中銀燭輝煌，這獃子朝上禮拜。拜畢，道：「娘，你把那個姐姐配我哩？」他丈母道：「正是這些兒疑難：我要把大女兒配你，恐二女怪；要把二女配你，恐三女怪；欲將三女配你，又恐大女怪：所以終疑未定。」八戒道：「娘，既怕相爭，都與我罷，省得鬧鬧吵吵，亂了家法。」他丈母道：「豈有此理！你一人就占我三個女兒不成！」八戒道：「你看娘說的話，那個沒有三房四妾？就再多幾個，你女婿也笑納了。我幼年間，也曾學得個鏖戰之法，管情一個個伏侍得他歡喜。」咦！满堂中银烛辉煌，这呆子朝上礼拜。拜毕，道：「娘，你把那个姐姐配我哩？」他丈母道：「正是这些儿疑难：我要把大女儿配你，恐二女怪；要把二女配你，恐三女怪；欲将三女配你，又恐大女怪：所以终疑未定。」八戒道：「娘，既怕相争，都与我罢，省得闹闹吵吵，乱了家法。」他丈母道：「岂有此理！你一人就占我三个女儿不成！」八戒道：「你看娘说的话，那个没有三房四妾？就再多几个，你女婿也笑纳了。我幼年间，也曾学得个鏖战之法，管情一个个伏侍得他欢喜。」
逐句解 Line by line
Aha!
The storyteller's exclamatory 咦, a flourish drawing the listener's eye to the lamplit scene.
The hall was ablaze with silver candles as the blockhead, facing forward, made his bows.
滿堂中 “throughout the hall,” 中 zhōng. 朝上 “facing forward,” 朝 cháo (獃子, 子 zi). Bajie performs the sham obeisance of his makeshift wedding.
His bows done, he said, “Ma'am, which of the sisters will you match with me?”
拜畢 “having finished bowing.” 那個姐姐 “which elder sister,” 那 nà. Bajie's eager, indelicate haste to know his bride.
His mother-in-law said, “That is just the difficulty: were I to match you with the eldest, I fear the second would resent it; the second, and the third would resent it; the third, and the eldest would resent it — so I remain in doubt, undecided.”
這些兒疑難 “this bit of a quandary” (兒 the suffix); 疑難 “perplexity.” 欲將三女配你 “wishing to match the third daughter to you,” 將 the disposal jiāng. The widow's feigned dilemma sets up the lottery to come.
Bajie said, “Ma'am, if you fear their quarreling, give them all to me — that would spare the squabbling and the upsetting of house-rules.”
既怕相爭 “since you fear (their) contending,” 相 here xiāng (“mutually”). 都與我 “give them all to me,” 都 dōu; 省得 “to save, avoid,” 得 de. Bajie's shameless solution — take all three.
His mother-in-law said, “The very idea!”
豈有此理 “where is there such a principle? — outrageous!” The widow's mock indignation at Bajie's greed.
“You alone would take all three of my daughters? It cannot be!”
一人就占 “one man to monopolize,” 一 yì. 不成 “it won't do,” here a rhetorical refusal.
Bajie said, “Listen to what you say, ma'am — who doesn't keep three chambers and four concubines?”
那個沒有 “which one hasn't,” 那 nà. 三房四妾 “three wives' apartments and four concubines,” the stock phrase for a wealthy man's polygamy. Bajie brazens out his demand.
“Even a few more, and your son-in-law would gladly take them in.”
笑納 “to accept with a smile,” a polite formula for receiving a gift — Bajie applies it, grotesquely, to taking wives.
“In my young days I once learned an art of hard campaigning; I warrant I could serve each of them to her full content.”
學得個 “learned a,” 得 the resultative de. 鏖戰之法 “a method of fierce battle,” Bajie's lewd euphemism for prowess in bed. 伏侍得他歡喜 “to wait on them to their delight,” 得 de; 一個個 “each one.”
In the candle-blazing hall, Bajie makes his sham bows and blurts the question uppermost in his mind: which of the sisters is to be his? The widow answers with a feigned dilemma — match him with any one, and the other two will resent it — a pretext that both flatters his desirability and sets the stage for the ruse to come.
Bajie's response strips away the last decency. Why not give him all three, he proposes, and spare the quarreling; and when the widow feigns outrage, he brazens on — what wealthy man lacks “three chambers and four concubines”? A few more would be no trouble. His greed, played for broad comedy, is the exact opposite of the restraint his three companions showed to the beauties.
The boast that caps the scene is characteristically coarse: an “art of hard campaigning” learned in youth, by which he could satisfy each wife in turn. The lewd bravado seals Bajie's fall from any pretense of a monk's discipline — and invites, with perfect comic justice, the humiliation the widow's lottery is about to visit on him.