閉門待徒 The Locked Gate
老妖持刀又問道：「和尚，你一行有幾個？終不然一人敢上西天？」三藏見他持刀，又老實說道：「大王，我有兩個徒弟，叫做豬八戒、沙和尚，都出松林化齋去了。還有一擔行李，一匹白馬，都在松林裡放著哩。」老妖道：「又造化了。兩個徒弟，連你三個，連馬四個，夠吃一頓了。」小妖道：「我們去捉他來。」老妖道：「不要出去，把前門關了。他兩個化齋來，一定尋師父吃；尋不著，一定尋著我門上。常言道：『上門的買賣好做。』且等慢慢的捉他。」眾小妖把前門閉了。老妖持刀又问道：「和尚，你一行有几个？终不然一人敢上西天？」三藏见他持刀，又老实说道：「大王，我有两个徒弟，叫做猪八戒、沙和尚，都出松林化斋去了。还有一担行李，一匹白马，都在松林里放着哩。」老妖道：「又造化了。两个徒弟，连你三个，连马四个，够吃一顿了。」小妖道：「我们去捉他来。」老妖道：「不要出去，把前门关了。他两个化斋来，一定寻师父吃；寻不着，一定寻着我门上。常言道：『上门的买卖好做。』且等慢慢的捉他。」众小妖把前门闭了。
逐句解 Line by line
Knife in hand, the old fiend asked again: “Monk, how many are in your party? Surely you'd not dare go up to the Western Heaven alone?”
一行 takes 行 as háng, a party or company travelling together — the second and last time in the chapter this character is not xíng. The question is casual and it is the only one the demon needs to ask.
Seeing the knife, Tripitaka answered honestly: “Great King, I have two disciples, called Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk, both gone out of the pine wood to beg food.
And Tripitaka answers it honestly, with a knife in front of him. Two disciples, both out begging. He has just handed over the plan of his own rescue. 三藏 takes zàng; 都 is dōu.
There's also a load of baggage and a white horse, both left back in the pine wood.”
And the baggage and the horse, too. 一擔 takes 擔 as dàn, the shoulder-load; 還 is hái; 都 is dōu; 放著 ends in the unstressed zhe.
Said the old fiend, “What luck again! Two disciples, and you make three, and the horse four — enough for one good meal.”
The demon does the arithmetic out loud and it comes to four portions, the horse included. Reducing people to a headcount for a meal is the oldest joke this novel has, and it never stops being unpleasant.
Said an imp, “We'll go and catch them.” “Don't go out,” said the old fiend. “Shut the front gate. When those two come back from begging, they're bound to look for their master to eat; and not finding him, they're bound to come seeking right up to my door.
He declines to send anyone out. Shut the gate and wait — they will come looking for their master, and looking will bring them here. 尋不著 and 尋著 both take 著 as zháo, the reading for a search that connects: find, and fail to find.
As the saying goes, ‘Business that comes to your door is easy to do.’ Just wait, and we'll catch them at our leisure.” And the little imps shut the front gate.
上門的買賣 — business that comes to your door — is a shopkeeper's saying, still in use, meaning the easiest sale is the one that walks in. A predator has just described three separate captures as retail, and he is right about all three.
The demon's whole strategy is built out of Tripitaka's honesty. Asked how many are in the party, the master answers plainly — two disciples, a horse, the baggage, all just back in the wood — and the fiend needs nothing further. He refuses to send his imps out, shuts the gate and simply waits, knowing the disciples must come looking. The trap is now baited with the pilgrim himself.
The proverb he quotes completes the chapter's pattern of predators who let the prey deliver itself: the fly walking onto the snake's head, the monk blundering into the cave, and now the disciples drawn to the gate. Against that kind of patience the pilgrims' virtues — loyalty, the instinct to go looking for a lost master — become the machinery of the danger.