番番是福 Fortune at Every Turn
正說處，八戒又跑進來，扯住福星，要討果子吃。他去袖裡亂摸，腰裡亂挖，不住的揭他衣服搜檢。三藏笑道：「那八戒是甚麼規矩！」八戒道：「不是沒規矩，此叫做『番番是福』。」三藏又叱令出去。那獃子跨出門，瞅著福星，眼不轉睛的發狠。福星道：「夯貨，我那裡惱了你來，你這等恨我？」八戒道：「不是恨你，這叫『回頭望福』。」那獃子出得門來，只見一個小童拿了四把茶匙，方去尋鍾取果看茶，被他一把奪過，跑上殿，拿著小磬兒，用手亂敲亂打，兩頭頑耍。大仙道：「這個和尚越發不尊重了。」八戒笑道：「不是不尊重，這叫做『四時吉慶』。」正说处，八戒又跑进来，扯住福星，要讨果子吃。他去袖里乱摸，腰里乱挖，不住的揭他衣服搜检。三藏笑道：「那八戒是甚么规矩！」八戒道：「不是没规矩，此叫做『番番是福』。」三藏又叱令出去。那呆子跨出门，瞅著福星，眼不转睛的发狠。福星道：「夯货，我那里恼了你来，你这等恨我？」八戒道：「不是恨你，这叫『回头望福』。」那呆子出得门来，只见一个小童拿了四把茶匙，方去寻钟取果看茶，被他一把夺过，跑上殿，拿著小磬儿，用手乱敲乱打，两头顽耍。大仙道：「这个和尚越发不尊重了。」八戒笑道：「不是不尊重，这叫做『四时吉庆』。」
逐句解 Line by line
Just as they were talking, in ran Bajie again, caught hold of the Star of Fortune, and demanded fruit to eat.
正說處 ("just as [they] were speaking"); 討果子吃, "to beg fruit to eat," 果子 with suffix zi. Bajie’s appetite, as ever, overrides all decorum.
He fumbled about in the Star’s sleeves and rummaged at his waist, ceaselessly lifting his garments to search him over.
亂摸…亂挖 ("groping and digging at random"); 搜檢, "to search, frisk." The image of Bajie pawing a dignified god for hidden fruit is comic indecorum itself.
Tripitaka said with a laugh, “What sort of manners are these, Bajie!”
甚麼規矩 ("what [kind of] manners," 甚麼 = shénme). Even Tripitaka’s rebuke is softened to a laugh — the scene is too absurd for real anger.
Bajie said, “It’s not bad manners — this is what’s called ‘fortune at every turn.’”
番番是福 ("every turn is fortune") puns on his rummaging: 番 ("a turn, a time," but also to turn over, rifle through) plays against 福, the Star of Fortune he is ransacking. The joke recasts his frisking as an auspicious act.
Tripitaka again ordered him out with a shout.
叱令 ("to command with a sharp cry, to bark an order"). The pattern repeats — Bajie’s antic, Tripitaka’s rebuke — building the scene by comic accumulation.
The blockhead stepped out the door, and, glaring at the Star of Fortune, fixed him with an unblinking, spiteful stare.
獃子 ("the dolt, the numbskull"), the narrator’s pet name for Bajie, 子 the suffix zi; 瞅著 ("staring at," 著 durative zhe); 眼不轉睛, "without turning the eye," fixedly.
Said the Star of Fortune, “You oaf — when did I ever provoke you, that you glower at me so?”
那裡 here is interrogative, nǎlǐ ("wherein, how ever"), not the demonstrative — "in what way have I wronged you?" 這等恨我, "hate me to this degree."
Bajie said, “I don’t hate you — this is called ‘turning the head to look toward fortune.’”
回頭望福 ("looking back to gaze on fortune") turns his backward glower into a second pun on 福 (fortune / the Star of Fortune) — to "look toward fortune" being an auspicious posture. Bajie makes a blessing of every rudeness.
Coming out the door, the blockhead spied a young acolyte carrying four tea-spoons, just going to fetch cups and fruit to serve tea; he snatched them clean away, ran up into the hall, took up a little chime, and beat and banged it with his hand, larking about at both ends.
出得門來 ("having come out the door," 得 the complement de); 拿著小磬兒 ("holding a little chime," 著 durative zhe, 兒 suffix er). The 磬 (a bowl-shaped percussion chime) sets up the pun of the next line.
The Great Immortal said, “This monk grows more unruly by the moment.”
越發 ("increasingly, all the more"); 不尊重 ("wanting in gravity, disrespectful," 重 = zhòng). Even the mild Zhenyuan is moved to remark on Bajie’s excess.
Bajie laughed: “It’s not disrespect — this is what’s called ‘blessings through the four seasons.’”
四時吉慶 ("auspicious rejoicing in all four seasons") completes Bajie’s run of puns: the chime he bangs is a 磬 (qìng), a near-homophone of 慶 ("celebration," qìng) — so his din becomes a promise of year-round festivity. Each of his four antics has been spun, in turn, into a blessing.
Bajie’s comic turn continues, now organized around an extended series of homophone puns — a favorite device of Ming vernacular humor. Rummaging the Star of Fortune for fruit becomes "fortune at every turn" (番番是福); glaring back at him becomes "looking toward fortune" (回頭望福); banging a temple chime (磬) becomes "blessings through the four seasons" (四時吉慶), on the near-homophony of 磬 and 慶. Each act of rudeness is instantly rebranded as an auspicious omen.
The passage is structured by comic repetition: three times Bajie misbehaves, three times he is rebuked, and three times he answers with a pun that converts the offense into a blessing. The rhythm is that of a stand-up routine, and its point is character — Bajie’s irrepressible, food-driven mischief and his low cunning, quick enough to turn any scolding into a joke at his accusers’ expense.
There is a gentle irony beneath the fun. The three Stars are the very gods of fortune, rank, and longevity; Bajie’s puns, for all their impudence, invoke exactly the blessings the Stars exist to bestow. His clowning thus doubles, absurdly, as a kind of auspicious ritual — the pig-disciple, all appetite and mischief, unwittingly speaking the language of benediction.